PATHETISM; 



PATHETISMi 

WITH 

PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS. 

Demonstrating the Falsity of the hitherto prevalent assumptions in 
regard to what has been called 

"MESMERISM" AND "NEUROLOGY," 

And illustrating those Laws which induce 

SOMNAMBULISM, SECOND SIGHT, SLEEP, DREAMING, 
TRANCE, AND CLAIRVOYANCE, 

With numerous Facts tending to show the Pathology of 
MONOMANIA, INSANITY, WITCHCRAFT, 

AND VARIOUS OTHER 

MENTAL OR NERVOUS PHENOMENA. 



BY LA ROY SUNDERLAND. 



" There cannot be a sounder maxim of reasoning, than that which 
points out to us the error of attributing the phenomena that occur to 
remote and extraordinary causes, when they may, with equal propriety, 
be referred to causes which obviously exist, and the results of which we 
daily observe." 



NEW-YORK: 

PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR BY P. P. GOOD, AT THE 
"MAGNET" OFFICE, 138 FULTON STREET, 

AND BY THE BOOKSELLERS GENERALLY THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY. 

1843. 



C3 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by La Roy 
Sunderland, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the Southern 
District of the State of New-York, 



J, Douglas, Printer, 34 Ann Street. 



PREFACE. 

It is now generally admitted, that some knowledge 
of Pathetism prevailed in Egypt, more than three 
thousand years ago. The celebrated Anthony Pluche, 
in his account of the Ancient Egyptians, copies from 
Montfaucon a complex figure, which has been under- 
stood to represent the Egyptian process of pathetis- 
ing. A patient is stretched upon a couch, while a 
large Anubis is painted in the act of making the passes 
over him, with one hand raised above his head, and 
the other placed upon his breast.* 

It is said, that the priests of Chaldea practised pa- 
thetism as a medicinal agent, many years before the 
Christian era. Celsus, a philosopher of the first cen- 
tury after Christ, speaks of a physician, who soothed 
the ravings of the insane by manipulations ; and he 
adds, that his manual operations, when continued for 
some time, produced a degree of sleep or lethargy. 

Various authors, from the earliest ages, have refer- 
red to cases of disease which have been cured by si- 
milar means ; and almost every sect of enthusiasts 
has had its records of cures performed, not, indeed, 
by miracle, but in some instances, it may have been, 
by the touch or friction of the human hand ; as it is 
well known that similar means were recommended for 

* Did. des Sc. Med. This picture is copied into " Fellow's Ex- 
position of the Mysteries of the Ancient Egyptians," p. 304. 
1* 



VI PREFACE . 

the cure of certain diseases, long before the days of 
Mesiner. 

In no other country where this agency has become 
known, has its therapeutic benefits been so little 
sought after, or so poorly appreciated, as in our own. 
This may be accounted for, in part, by the manner in 
which this subject has been exhibited, from time to 
time, in different places. Where people have to de- 
pend upon public exhibitions, and know nothing more 
of its use than what they see in experiments made for 
mercenary purposes, we are not to expect them to 
place a very high estimate upon any of its alleged 
practical benefits. 

It is believed, however, that a large number of the 
most intelligent of the learned professions in this coun- 
try, are convinced of the truth of pathetism ; and not 
a few of these classes have seen and tested the valu- 
able benefits to be anticipated from its use, in the cure 
of disease. 

Did the limits of this work permit, we should gra- 
tify our readers with some accounts of the present 
state of pathetism in France, Russia, Germany, and 
Prussia, countries where its practice has long been 
patronised by the learned, and especially by the me- 
dical profession. The government of Prussia, in 1817, 
attempted to guard its practice by legislative enact- 
ments, prohibiting any but regularly organised physi- 
cians from its use, and requiring them, when they did 
so, to report their proceedings, quarterly, to the au- 
thorities of the state. A society of Paris, from 1814 
to 1820, published two periodicals, devoted entirely to 
the narration of facts, and the diffusion of intelligence 
connected with this subject. In Prussia and some 



PREFACE. VII 

other countries, hospitals have been established for 
the sole purpose of treating the sick by the use of pa- 
thetism. And a decree of the Medical College of 
Denmark, passed in 1815, and another in 1817, im- 
posed upon physicians the duty of reporting the re- 
sults of their pathetetic practice. But we have not 
the space necessary for any considerable proportion 
of the testimony which might be quoted, showing the 
estimate placed upon it by the learned in other coun- 
tries, as a medicinal agent. And to deny it, as obser- 
ved by Dr. Marc, before the Paris Academy of Medi- 
cine, (in 1825,) "to deny it, would be to suppose that 
men of the greatest merit, two learned bodies of the 
first respectability, and governments known to have 
surrounded themselves with the best physicians, must 
have, in various places, and at various periods of time, 
fallen dupes of miserable jugglers, and propagated, 
favored, and executed, labors merely chimerical.* 

In our own country, nothing, probably, has done 
more to bring this subject into disrepute, than the 
manner in which it has been treated by its professed 
friends. Public attention was first called to it under 
a -most disagreeable name, and the many silly stories 
put in circulation about its wonders, could but arouse 
prejudice, and unfit the mind to give it a candid exa- 
mination. 

Though it will be seen that the author of the present 
volume claims originality for the theory advocated in 
the following pages, as well as some of the processes 
of operating, yet it must be borne in mind, that no ?wv: 
agency is assumed, by whatever names this influence 
may have been known in previous a^es of the world. 

* Progress of Animal Magnetism. Bv Dr. C. Poven. Boston, 
1837, pp. 19-^*2, 



VI11 PREFACE. 

The author's numerous cerebral experiments, have 
been conducted with the special design of ascertain- 
ing more than seemed to have been known heretofore 
of the functions of animal life. And the following- 
pages contain the results of investigations connected 
with nervous difficulties, which have been continued 
for a number of years. Upon mature consideration, it 
was believed preferable that the results of the author's 
observations should be given, rather than the details 
of numerous experiments ; as volumes might easily be 
filled with the latter, without affording any real benefit 
to those for whom this work is designed. His oppor- 
tunities for observing those classes of mental pheno- 
mena, supposed to be of the utmost importance in 
forming right conclusions as to the laws of mind, have 
been ample , and the experiments in Phrenopathy hav- 
ing now been repeated by a large number of operators, 
en both sides of the Atlantic, no room seems left to 
doubt as to what some of those laws must be which 
govern the vital, organic, and mental functions of the 
human system. 

It is easy to conceive how great the disappointment 
of many will be, on finding that the author, after de- 
voting so long a time to the investigation of this sub- 
ject, should reject the hitherto prevalent assumptions 
in relation to what has been called the magnetic or 
nervous fluid. But that these assumptions have not 
been rejected without some good reasons, the follow- 
ing pages will show. Nor can the author entertain 
any doubt, that if previous writers had taken up the 
subject as he has done, they would have arrived at 
similar results. Instead of attempting to test these as- 
sumptions, it has been every where taken for granted 



PREFACE. IX 

that a fluid was eliminated from the operator, into the 
system of the patient ; and the various phenomena 
have been explained accordingly. Indeed, the author 
of what has been called "Neurology," has frankly told 
us, that he formed his theory first, and then commen- 
ced his experiments in proof of it ! And in the same 
way the notion has so generally obtained, that the 
agency treated of in this work was really a magnetic 
or nervous fluid ; and one generation has believed it 
after another, because the necessary pains have never 
been taken to arrive at the truth on this subject. 

New-York, March 1, 1843. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 



Pages 
Explanation of Terms. 1 — 4 



CHAPTER II. 

Human Life. 

Life is an element. Its power over matter. Its control 
over the imponderable fluid?, magnetism, electricity, and heat. 
Life is not electricity — these forces do not amount to what we 
know of life. They do not modify or control life, as they 
would were life nothing but electricity. The nerves are non- 
ductors of electricity. Life has laws peculiar to itself. It has 
motion, moisture — it is affected by mere sound. Life may, as 
it were, be shaken out of the system. It has the sense of 
feeling. The nerves, themselves, are destitute of feeling, ex- 
cept upon the surface. Hence, if electricity were life, every 
part, and especially the nerves, would be alike sensitive to 
pain from contact with any disturbing body. 5 — 15 

CHAPTER III, 

Susceptibility. 

Peculiar to animal life. Effects of medicine. Diff'erenccs 
in the effects of the same medicine on the same persons. Idio- 
syncrasy. Emotions of pleasure or pain. What is the quality 
of the system operated on in producing pain ? How is conta- 
gion or infection received? Reciprocal influences between 
the mind and one's own susceptibility. "What is the mind ? 
How is this question answered ? The mind is dependent upon 



Xii CONTENTS. 

Pages 
the developments of this susceptibility. Where is the mind of 
the foetus ? It sympathises with the body. Sexual difference. 
Temperaments. Diet. The health. The power of thought 
depends upon the state of the nervous system. Effects of the 
atmosphere. Influence of the mind over the susceptibility. 
The voice. Effects of the mental apprehensions on the sus- 
ceptibility. Adaptation of the different susceptibilities to the 
general purposes of life. Rules for judging of this susceptibi- 
lity. Temperament. Phrenological developments. 16—36 

CHAPTER IV. 

Sympathy — Antipathy* 

These states do not depend upon the judgment, but upon a 
peculiarity in the physical nature of each person. The corre- 
spondence of the different parts of the body, and the general 
sympathy of the whole with the mind. Sympathies peculiar to 
different parts of the system, depending on the relation which 
one part sustains to another. Physical sympathy does not, ne- 
cessarily, depend upon continuity of surface, or the contiguity 
of the parts affected. Reflex nervous action. JN T o sensation 
independent of the brain, or medulla oblongata — but sympa- 
thies do exist independent of this organ. Anatomy and func- 
tions of the ganglia. Two separate living bodies are some- 
times affected by the same sympathetic laws. The same laws 
shown to extend to animals. Two persons far apart, dream- 
ing at the same time precisely the same dream. These laws 
of sympathy are resolvable into what we know to be the laws 
of mind ; and its influence may be extended from one person 
to another. Case of the children at the poor-house in Haer- 
lem. Strange occurrences in Kentucky in 1801, and in Scot- 
land, England, and Germany. Catalepsy under religious ex- 
citement, precisely like that produced by pathetism. 37 — 57 

CHAPTER V. 

Relation, 
Relation is the connection established between two things. 



CONTENTS. Xlil 

Pages 
Chemical effects depend upon the qualities of two different bo- 
dies brought together. The relation which produces positive 
results, depends upon certain contrarieties in two bodies 
brought together. This law is universal. Nature works by- 
contrarieties. Two things precisely alike in quality, produce 
negative results. All the effects of pathetism depend upon this 
relation, established between the patient, the operator, or the 
process. This relation is increased by habit, and sometimes 
it acquires supreme control over the mind of the subject. 
Sometimes it depends wholly upon the mental apprehensions 
of the patient, — and the mind transfers it from one object to 
another. Persons have been killed by this power. It ex- 
plains the phenomena produced by Mesmer, which have never 
been reasonably accounted for to this day, and shows how 
sleep is induced by a mere process, adopted for this purpose. 58 — 67 

CHAPTER VI. 

Pathetism. 

What pathetism is. No more mystery in this agency than 
in any other. Its effects upon the sense of touch, the sight, 
taste, smell, hearing. Effects upon the muscles, the nerves, 
the organs of animal life, the mental organs, consciousness, 
the will. Disposition and character of the patient. Effects in 
the cure of disease. Anomalous results, by pathetising, by the 
imponderable fluids. 68 — 98 

CHAPTER VII, 

Theory of Pathetism. 

What is the nature of this agency ? Is it a universal fluid ? 
These results are not the necessary effects of magnetism or 
electricity. The magnetic forces reciprocally affect each other 
—not so with the operator and his subject. The results pro- 
duced by pathetism are radically different from any induced by 
the mere electrical forces. Effects of metals applied to the 
body. Perkins's tractors. Effects of pathetism on animals. 
The nerves are non-conductors of electricity. Is it a nervous 
2 



XIV CONTENTS. 

Pages 
fluid ? How can this be, when sleep is induced without any 
physical contact or mental exertion of the operator ? Effects 
produced on idiots and infants. Discrepancies in the results 
prove that it is not a fluid. Operators have been deceived by 
what they supposed to be the effects of the will upon patients. 
The immediate agency for affecting the mind, must be the 
same in all cases. 99 — 116 



CHAPTER VIIL 

Pathetising. 

Have all persons this power ? The hand — passes — the ope- 
rator. His health, temperament, age, mental character, good 
motives, skill. Balance of power. The patient. Tempera- 
ments. Idiosyncrasy. Quiet. Sleep. Time and place for 
operating. Process of pathetising. Cautions. 117— -127 

CHAPTER IX. 

Phrenopathy. 

Discoveries of Dr. Gall. Phrenology. The relation of the 
encephalon to the body. Acephalous foetuses. Numerous 
phenomena explained. Functions of the ganglia. Hemis- 
pheres. Decussation. Sections of the encephalon. Cerebel- 
lum. Base of the brain. Coronal region. Frontal region. 
Occipital region. Cerebral excitement by galvanism. Origin 
of phrenopathy. Theory of phrenopathy. Mental organs. 
Experiments. 128—161 



CHAPTER X. 

Sleep and Dreaming. 






The relation of sleep to wakefulness. The will in a state 
of sleep. The external senses. Dreaming. Voluntary sleep. 
Continued wakefulness. Excessive sleep. Means of inducing 
natural sleep. 162—168 



CONTENTS. XV 

CHAPTER XI. 

Somnium, Trance, Somnambulism. 

Pages 
Similarity between these states. Case of a somnambulist at 
East Bloomfleld, N.Y. Case of a lady in the state of Maine. 
Numerous other cases stated. An account given by a som- 
nambulist of himself. Case of Rev. W. Tennant. Conclu- 
sions to be drawn from these facts. 169 — 190 

CHAPTER XII. 

Second Sight, Transposition of ihe Senses, Double Consciousness ? 
Presentiments, Prophetic Dreams, Witchcraft. 

Cases cf second sight stated. Transposition of the external 
senses, tasting, smelling, hearing, &c. to the pit of the sto- 
mach. Living in two states, alternately. Presentiments, 
Prophetic Dreams, Witchcraft. 191—210 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Clairvoyance. 

Objectionable manner in which this subject has been pre- 
sented. Human knowledge. The question stated. Sense of 
perception' without the external organs. Instinct. What is 
clairvoyance ? Manner of inducing this phenomenon. Speci- 
mens of sympathetic perception. Cases of independent clair- 
voyance. 211—230 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Conclusion. 

The reality of this agency. Its nature. How operators 
have been deceived. What is the medium of this agency ? 
Impossibility of transmitting a fluid of any kind, in the man- 
ner hitherto supposed. Vibratory medium. Mental apprehen- 
sions. Intrinsic importance of the subject. Its application to 



XVI CONTENTS. 

Pages 
the purposes of education, and the different relations of life. 
A well-balanced head. What should be done when the organs 
are unequally balanced? Parents responsible for the mental 
developments of their children. Conjugal union. 231 — 240 

Appendix 241 



ERRATA. 



The reader is requested to make the following corrections : 

Page 5, 4th line from the bottom, for " be composed/ 5 read " is 

composed." 

Page 35, 9th line from the top, " which" should be stricken out. 
Page 36, 2d line from the bottom, for " pathist" read "pathe- 

tist." 
Page 42, 9th and 15th lines from the bottom, for "Mlex," read 

" reflex." 
Page 44, 12th line from the top, for "fact" read "fads;" and 

5th line from the bottom, for " sympathy" read " sommpathy." 
Page 81, 2d line from the top, for "it," read "them." 
Page 108, 14th line from the bottom, for "thus," read "this." 
Page 109, 13th line from the bottom, for "magnetic," read 

" magnet." 

Page 118, 2d line from the bottom, for " these" read "there." 
Page 128, 3d line from the top, for " Phrenis" read " Phren." 
Page 133, 20th line from the top, for " venesection," read " vi~ 

visedion." 



PATHETISM. 



CHAPTER I. 



EXPLANATION OF TEEMS. 



Most persons, at all familiar with the subjects we propose 
to investigate, have felt the want of suitable terms, by which 
to designate them ; and some terms we have been in the habit 
of using, have not been understood by all, and others, have 
been used in a sense widely different from what their radical 
meaning would justify. — Somnambulism, from somnus and 
ambulo, properly signifies walking in a state of sleep; but it is 
often incorrectly used to signify a state of sleep, merely, and 
without any reference to its peculiar nature, or the manner in 
which it may have been induced. But, as there is manifestly 
a marked distinction between natural sleep, and that which is 
artificially produced, we want some term suitable for designa- 
ting the state of induced sleep, to distinguish it from any oth- 
er. And so of the process for producing sleep. The term 
" Magnetising," has been used for this purpose, to some con- 
siderable extent, but all have been agreed that this was not, 
by any means, so appropriate as could be desired. The truth 
is, many of the phenomena common to a state of induced 
sleep, are so new and unaccountable, that language does not 
seem to have afforded the necessary terms for designating 
them all ; and though we offer the following, we must confess 
that these do not, by any means, cover the entire field, nor, 
indeed, are some of them quite so "classical" as we could de- 

A 



'2 PATHETISM. 

sire ; yet they will, we are persuaded, answer a good purpose 
till better terms can be found. It is well known that our term 
sympathy is from two Greek words which signify fellow-feel- 
ing, or a like feeling with another, as sumpascho, was used 
among the Greeks in this sense. And hence the use which 
has since been made, in medical theories of the term pathos, 
which signifies not only disease, but passion, feeling, excite- 
ment, emotion; and pathetikos, susceptible of emotion, that 
which produces emotion or feeling. And, that, what has al- 
ready been understood, among physicians by the term sympa- 
thy and antipathy, has its foundation in that quality, or 
nature of living bodies which is the ground-work, if we may 
so speak, of all that has ever really been produced under the 
name of Mesmerism, there can be no doubt at all. I do not 
say that the phenomena of the induced sleep for instance, is 
produced by nothing more nor less, than what has been known 
of the laws o[ sympathy, but, what I mean is, that all that 
has been understood of physical or mental sympathy, has 
originated, or been founded in that same susceptibility, upon 
which we operate in producing any mental or physical ef- 
fects upon the sytem of another by manipulation. No term, 
therefore, so well expresses what is really meant when speak- 
ing of the agency by which one person operates on the mental 
or physical organs, of another, and for the production of all 
those phenomena peculiar to the induced sleep, as one which 
gives the idea of sympathy, and a state of susceptibility, which 
renders this influence efficient and successful in producing 
the desired results in any part of the system on which the op- 
eration is performed. Every physician knows that disease is 
often communicated by sympathy ; and it will appear on ex- 
amination, I think, that this same agency may be equally ef- 
ficient in its cure. But the results brought about in this way 
amount to nothing more or less, than what has so long been 
known under the term " animal magnetism." Hence my au- 
thority for the adoption of the following terms ; and I may 
add, that they have not, heretofore, been appropriated to any 
other use, and hence there is, there can be, no reasonable ob- 
jection to their application in the sense here proposed. 



EXPLANATION OF TERMS. 3 

Vuthetism. — I use this term to signify, not only the agency 
by which one person by manipulation, is enabled to produce 
emotion, feeling, passion, or any physical or mental effects, in 
the system of another, but also that susceptibility of emotion 
or feeling, of any kind, from manipulation, in the subject op- 
erated upon, by the use of which these effects are produced ; 
as also the laws by which this agency is governed. I mean 
it as a substitute for the terms heretofore in use, in connection 
with this subject, and I respectfully submit it to all concerned, 
whether this be not a far better term for the thing signified, 
than either Magnetism or Mesmerism. The former of these 
has, for centuries, been appropriated, and which, when used, 
expresses more than is necessarily included in its meaning, 
when applied to the human body. The term Galvanism 
would be far more appropriate, than that of Mesmerism, but, 
I think it best to use one which answers my purpose, much 
better, and to which there can be no serious objections. 

Pathttise. — The act of manipulating the human body, for 
the purpose of inducing sleep, the relief of pain or the cure of 
disease. The act of applying the fingers to different parts of 
the head, or the body, for the purpose of exciting, or control- 
ling the mental organs. 

Somnium. — This term was first used, I believe, by Dr. 
Mitchell, of New York, to designate what has been called by 
some sleep-icaking, that is, a state in which persons, in a pe- 
culiar sleep, perform acts of which they are, at the time or 
afterwards, wholly unconscious. The term is needed to des- 
ignate the state of spontaneous sleep, merely in distinction, 
from that state which is accompanied w r ith walking, and also 
from the other states described below. 

Somnist. — One who spontaneously falls into a state of som- 
nium, or sleep-w r aking. 

Somnipathy. — The induced sleep, brought on by the process 
ofpathetising. 

Somnipathist. — One in a state of sleep, induced by pathe- 
tism. 

Somnniloquist. — One who is made to talk, hi a state of 
somnipathy, 



4 PATHETISM. 

Phrenopathy. — The developement of the mental functions 
by pathetism. The theory which teaches the susceptibilities 
and influences of the human brain; the method of controling 
the different cerebral organs, and the results produced on the 
mind, by manipulating different parts of the body. Upon the 
discovery of the susceptibility of the separate cerebral organs, 
to the control of pathetism, for the want of a better terrm 
these experiments were reported under the terms, "Phreno- 
Magnetism," " Cerebration," &c. But as, from the first, I 
have controlled the mental organs, not merely by applications 
directly over them, but also by manipulating different portions 
of the face, neck, limbs, trunk, and indeed the teeth, fingers 
and toes of the human system, I think the above term more 
appropriate. Whatever impression, therefore, is made upon 
the mind, by applying this agency to any part of the body comes 
within the sense, in which it is used in this work. 

Clairvoyance. — Simply clear-sight; but it has come into 
use to signify, sight without the eye. 

Second-sight. — This term as is well known, is used to sig- 
nify a sight of distant objects; or what would be called a su- 
pernatural perception of persons, or things at a distance. The 
terms, sup er sentient , and somniscience are used, also, in the 
same sense. 



CHAPTER II. 



HOIAN LIFE. 



As our enquiries relate to the nature of living bodies, it is 
plain, that what we want to know, is most directly concerned 
with human life, and the laws by which it affects and con- 
trols matter. When it is said, that we never can know any- 
thing with regard to the essential nature of life, it is affirming 
no more than we are forced to admit of matter itself. For, 
who has ever been able to tell what matter is ? Some of the 
laws by which it is governed we know, but who has been 
able to demonstrate whether matter be composed of one or 
more elements ? Nor are our enquiries with regard to life, 
really, any more difficult : for over the essential nature of both 
life and matter, there hangs the same impenetrable shade of 
mystery, and whether we shall ever be able to advance be- 
yond the knowledge of our predecessors or not, onthese ques- 
tions, remains to be seen. 

If we merely use the term life, as expressive of a fact, like 
the term attraction or repulsion, it may be as easily defined 
as any known property of matter. The following are some 
of the reasons which incline me to the opinion, that life is not 
the result of organization, but that it is, itself, a distinct ele- 
ment, and governed bylaws of its own. 

1. Its power over the laws of matter. 

The fluids of which the embryo is formed must be endowed 
with life, because, from their union, or by one, when in contact, 
or sufficiently influenced by the other, it is certain, a living 
substance, or being is produced, which partakes of the qualities 
ot its parents. If it be assumed that this fluid be composed 
of particles, in an organized form, we might answer, that life 
gave them this form, and hence they must be the results and 
no: the cause of life. 

Al 



6 PATHETISM, 

From the scripture account it is plain, that the formation 
of the human body preceded the gift of life. After man was 
formed from the dust of the earth, we are told, (Gen. 2: 7,) 
God " breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives, and man 
became a living soul." And some have supposed that the 
language of Moses, (Lev. 17: 11), is to be understood as af- 
firming that the blood is alive, and that life is deposited in 
this fluid. But, the meaning is simply, that the life depends 
upon the blood, so that when it is withdrawn, life ceases. If 
this be not his meaning, it would involve the absurd notion, 
that the blood is the only part of the system which is alive, 
but this we know is not the fact. 

We admit, that without the constant operations of the 
well-known chemical affinities, life could not exist for a mo- 
ment ; but these affinities are controlled by life, and hence de- 
composition cannot take place ; and the system is thus pre- 
served from death and decay. And in a word, we may say that 
almost every function of living bodies is performed in opposi- 
tion to the all-pervading law of gravitation. The fluids as- 
cend against this law; and so of the sap in vegetables, it is 
forced up by the principle of vitality, which controls matter, 
and which, therefore, cannot be a mere result of its organiza- 
tion. For, to suppose that this phenomenon, is the result mere- 
ly of organization, would be to assume that matter has a self- 
determining, self-controling power. But it is an acknowl- 
edged law of matter, that by itself, it is absolutely inert, and 
any power it may manifest, must be derived ; so that whatev- 
er changes may be observed in its different states, they are 
produced by some extrinsic cause; hence the conclusion seems 
reasonable that life is an element, distinct from matter, as 
much so as light or caloric. 

This power of animal life may be seen also in its identity 
and perpetuity, if we may so speak. It remains the same in 
whatever clime, or color, or state, it appears. Since the 
world existed, no change has been produced in this element. 
It is the same in the human body — it is the same in the va- 
rious forms of beasts, birds and reptiles. True, some of the 
particular features of the bodies which it animates, may 



HUMAN LIFE. / 

change, but this principle remains the same, and from the 
first, it has possessed the power of perpetuating itself, un- 
changed, from generation to generation and from age to age. 
But if life be nothing more than the result of organization, or 
mere electricity, it could not be shown how the life of one ani- 
mal could be preserved distinct from another; or how man 
could preserve his identity, or why the animals, birds and in- 
sects do not so mix up their existences as to become lost in 
one general amalgamation. 

2. Life possesses the powee of controlling the im- 
ponderable FLUIDS. 

We say life, because we know, that the same bodies when 
derpived of life, are immediately operated on by these agen- 
cies, when, on the living system they produce no effect at all. 
The power of the human body to resist heat is well known. 
Its natural temperature in this country is not far from 96° 
Fahr. But Dr. Fordyce, formerly physician to St. Thomas' 
Hospital, London, went into a room heated to 120°, where he 
remained twenty minutes, and afterwards, into a room heated 
to 130° and remained fifteen minutes while the thermometer 
in his hand rose only to 100°. Sir Joseph Banks, Dr. Solan- 
der and Sir Charles Blagden, remained several minutes in a 
room heated to between 196° and 211°, the temperature at 
which water boils; and the latter of the above gentlemen re- 
mained eight minutes in a room heated to 260°. We have 
accounts of a youngfemale at Rochefoucault, who was in the 
habit of staying ten and twelve minutes at a time in an oven 
heated to 276°, and Tillet and Duhamel inform us that they 
bore a heat of 290° for nearly five minutes. 

Chantry, the sculptor, often entered his furnace, when 
heated for drying his mould, to 320°, and his workmen did 
the same with -impunity when the thermometer was up to 
340°. 

A dog of moderate size was subjected to a heat of 220°. — 
The only signs of distress was holding out the tongue, and in 
30 minutes the heat was 236°. On being taken out, the bot- 
tom of the basket was found wet with saliva. By the same 
heat, beef steaks were cooked in thirty minutes, and in twenty, 
eggs were roasted hard. 



o PATHETISM. 

Most of my readers, have probably, heard of Mons. Chabert, 
the "fire king," and who, as is stated by Dr. Dunglingson, 
entered an oven when the heat was raised above 400°. 

And we find the living body possessed also, of the same 
power to generate caloric. We have seen that its natural 
temperature is about 96°; but in the account of Capt. Parry's 
voyage to the arctic seas, we are told that his crew were fre- 
quently exposed to a temperature 50° below zero, and 150 be- 
low that of their own bodies, without being frozen ! 

We may be told, we know, that heat is resisted by the pro- 
cess of evaporation. But what carries on this process? Or, 
what causes the living body to evaporate more than the dead 
piece of flesh? The two put into the oven together, the lat- 
ter is cooked, while the former remains in the same tempera- 
ture unchanged. 

This astonishing power is attributable to nothing but the 
laws of animal life. 

It is also susceptible of the clearest demonstration, that 
life controls the forces of the electric fluid. Most persons have 
noticed the sparks which are often emitted from the hair of a 
cat, when it is rubbed in very cold weather; and a similar 
phenomenon is also seen, on Taking off flannel drawers, &c. 
from the human body. 

A steel needle, plunged into a nerve, becomes magnetic; 
and on being withdrawn, it is found to have the power of at- 
tracting light substances. 

Muller affirms, that efficient galvanic piles may be formed 
from organic animal substances, without the use of metals. — 
Wienholn states that he has seen sparks obtained by bringing 
the divided ends of two nerves together. The electrical pro 
perties of the torpedo, and a species of eel, are also well 
known. The gymnotus, for instance, it would seem, possesses 
a complete galvanic battery. Two troughs are found on each 
side of the spine, separated from each other by a ligament ex- 
tending the whole length of the fish ; and the resemblance of 
this apparatus to the galvanic pile, is certainly very remarka- 
ble. 

A lady whom I cured of a most severe attack of neural- 



HITMAN LIFE. y 

gia, by Pathetism, was often known to have noises in the front 
part of her head, which sounded exactly like the discharge of 
electrical sparks. And I know another lady, who, when 
indisposed a year or two since, gave off sparks from her body 
whenever she was approached by the physician who attend- 
ed her. She was, at the time, partially deranged. 

Dr. W. H. Muller, of Pittsburg, Pa., has demonstrated the 
evolutions of electricity from the human body, in certain con- 
ditions, by a series of original experiments, a full account of 
which may be seen in the Magnet for February, 1843. As 
those experiments seem to have been more decisive than any 
others of the kind, so far as I know, and as the conclusions 
derivable from them, are directly in favor of the theory now 
under notice, I think it proper to give Dr. Muller 's account, 
in his own words. It is as follows : 

" Before mentioning more particularly the conditions to be 
attended to for a successful trial of the experiment, I must 
state, that this evolution of electricity is entirely independent of 
any friction between the clothes and skin. That so far from this 
being the case, not the smallest appreciable quantity can be 
produced by any friction that can be made by the clothes 
against the skin, though the body and limbs be moved slowly 
or quickly in every direction. I have, also, when undressed 
and insulated, with one hand on the electrometer, rubbed the 
surface of the body with flannel or cotton without causing the 
slightest movement of the gold leaf. 

"The conditions spoken of are as follows: First a proper 
dryness of the air, — hence a situation in front of a good fire is 
preferable. As a very cold air is generally very dry, also, the 
experiment has succeeded at an open window, when the ther- 
mometer stood at 38° ; but as here the air soon derived mois- 
ture from the room or the body, the electricity of the latter 
W T as so soon carried off, that it was gone before I could touch 
the electrometer twice, after rising from the chair. But, be- 
fore the fire, I could count slowly forty or fifty, after rising, 
before I had parted with the electricity evolved by the act of 
rising. It was for want of attention to having the air dry, 
and to my overlooking a cause of moisture, that I was, at 
first, in doubt whether the electricity did in fact arise from 
the body without the aid of clothing. I had succeeded once 
or twice, perfectly, I thought, in affecting the electrometer, 
when trying the experiment before the fire, undressed ; but I 
afterwards failed continually, until ' inedtl t by walk- 



10 PATHETISM. 

ing a few moments in the cool side of the room, and then 
trying the experiment before the fire — I found it succeeded 
completely. I repeated this often, and always with the same 
result. The cause of my former failure was owing to the in- 
creased evaporation of moisture from the skin, produced by 
the heat of the fire ; by cooling the surface, and then trying 
the experiment before the fire, where the air was dry, I could 
affect the electrometer each time I rose and sat, until the heat 
had produced a too copious exhalation from the skin to allow 
the electricity to remain on the body. For the same reason, 
I have very rarely been able to affect the electrometer after 
returning from a walk, the cutaneous exhalation carrying off 
the electric fluid as fast as it was formed. — Secondly, the po- 
sition requisite. This is as follows : place the electrometer 
over the mantel-piece over a good fire. Take a common sized 
chair, of such a height that the feet resting on the floor, the 
thighs shall be horizontal. Sit towards the front edge of 
the chair and lean back, so as to have the trunk of the body 
quite relaxed; then rise quickly, and touch the cover of the 
electrometer. The leaf or leaves will scarcely fail to indicate 
the presence of electricity. If the first trial should fail, it will 
be owing to the non-observance of some of the above condi- 
tions. A second or third attempt must succeed. The elec- 
trometer may be placed on a table before the fire; the experi- 
menter, seated on a chair near it, may place his hand on the 
cover, and then, after leaning back, he should lean a little for- 
wards and rise quickly, or but partly assume the erect posi- 
tion. At the instant of rising, and very often at that of sitting 
again, the electrometer will indicate a large amount of elec- 
tricity. I have charged with as much as could be detected 
by the instrument, by thus alternately rising and sitting. By 
the application of the jar, however, the leaf has never moved 
more than half an inch, while by keeping the finger on the 
electrometer while I thus rose and sat, I could as before stat- 
ed, cause a continual flight of the leaf to and fro thro' an inch 
or more. I have hitherto found my own electricity positive, 
and I have a suspicion that the electricity is different accord- 
ing as I rise up or sit down. This shall be decided in future. 
"It is indispensable, that the chair be neither too high nor 
low. If the chair with which I succeed when in its proper 
position, be turned on its side, making it lower, and I then 
sit down and rise, the electrometer is not affected. Neither 
have I succeeded by rising from a rocking chair ; at the sug- 
gestion of a friend the effect of sitting upon pillows as upon 
non-conductors, was tried; and it was found that, insulation 
aside, the yielding nature of the articles diminishes ihe indica- 
tion of electricity. If the chair be placed upon pillows, and 



HITMAN LIFE. 11 

also if the feet of the experimenter sit on a pillow placed in 
the seat, or against the back of the chair, the effects on the 
electrometer are irregular, or for the most part small. Any 
position in short which does not call into action the proper 
muscles, or impedes their complete action, entirely prevents 
or lessens the developement of electricity. Lowering the 
body, so that it rests upon the heels, and then rising and 
touching the instrument, will be as void of influence on the 
leaf, as movement from any other position than the one de- 
scribed. Complete insulation, by placing the legs of the 
chair in glass tumblers, and the feet on pillows, seems to in- 
crease the electricity." 

Now, if it should be assumed that the above experiments 
go to show, that life itself is electricity, I reply : — 

(1.) That this assumption does not enable us to explain how 
it is that this (life) electricity is evolved merely by rising up from 
a peculiar position, and stretching out the hand in the way 
above described. If muscular action evolves life, why should 
it not be much more evolved, in the act of rising up from a 
recumbent posture; or in the act of lifting some heavy body ? 
But in such acts, it does not appear that any electricity was 
evolved. 

(2.) The electrical, galvanic, or magnetic forces, as far as 
known, do not amount to what we do know of the vital for- 
ces. No effects have been produced by the action of electri- 
city upon matter, which would render it capable of resisting 
heat, as we have seen the living body has the power of doing, 

(3.) Admitting life to be either of the ordinary imponderable 
fluids, it should follow that it would be modified, controlled, de- 
stroyed or restored by their application to the human system, in 
innumerable cases, where they are not now known to produce 
any effects whatever. Friction of an electric, produces electri- 
city ; but no such results follow the friction of the liv r ing body. 
The application of an ordinary magnet produces no effects, 
though it be ever so powerful, except in a few isolated cases, 
where there is a peculiar state of susceptibility, developed by 
disease, or the process of pathetising* And even, when per- 
sons are susceptible to any peculiar influences from the im- 
ponderable fluids, it is found that their effects do not agree in 
any two cases, nor scarcely in any two experiments, at differ- 



12 PATHETISM. 

ent times, upon the same person ; faGts which can never be 
accounted for on the supposition that animal life is nothing 
more than electricity. And, on this hypothesis, how can it 
be shown that in certain cases, at least, we should not be able 
to restore life by a galvanic battery ? It is not known that 
death, or the mere cessation of life, produces any change of 
structure in any part of the system ; and in cases of death by 
fright or excessive joy, why should not life be restored by an 
application of the ordinary electrical forces ? 

(4.) The forces of the different imponderable fluids may 
constitute some of the agencies by which life performs its func- 
tions ; but this does not prove that these agencies constitute life, 
any more than the pen with which these lines are written 
could be proved to be the mind by which it is moved. 

(5.) This assumption is sufficiently confuted by anatomy, 
Bischoff has proved, that the nerves are among the worst pos- 
sible conductors of electricity or galvanism; from which it 
follows, that the fluids can neither be life, nor the sole agent 
by which its functions are carried on. This fact will be 
made to appear more fully in the chapter on Pathetism. 

We observe, 

3. That life has laws of its own, which, though they 
may be similar to the electrical forces, yet they can- 
not ee identified with anything but life itself. 

(1 .) All animal life has more or less motion. But it is not 
necesssarily so with the imponderable fluids. The magnetic 
forces may exist in any degree, without producing motion at 
all. True, we can detect these forces only by their effects 
on matter, as they may appear when two kinds of matter 
without life, are brought into a particular relation to each 
other; but no relation between different qualities of any inan- 
imate matter has ever produced animal life. 

(2.) Moisture and heat are often necessary conditions of 
animal life. But the magnetic forces may exist where neither 
moisture nor heat can be detected. 

(3.) It has never been proved that sound has any in- 
fluence over the galvanic forces. But we know that mere 
sound may not only produce all the passions and feelings of 



HUMAN LIFE. 13 

which the human mind is known to be susceptible, but it 
has, in some cases, produced instant death, as in cases of 
threats or fright, as will be fully shown in the succeeding* 
chapter. 

These facts illustrate laws peculiar to living bodies, and 
which therefore, cannot be affirmed of the mere electric or 
magnetic forces. 

(4.) But it might be thought that these results are pecu- 
liar, only to those who have minds or reason ; and that it is 
this faculty which is operated on by the magnetic forces, and 
the mind reacts on these forces, and thus extinguishes life. — 
This comes quite near to what is called reasoning in a circle. 
That the mind is not the life is plain ; and we further admit, 
that the mind may affect the life, but how this is done is the 
thing to be proved. It has never been proved that the ordi- 
nary magnetic forces were ever controlled by mind, merely, 
and hence it is not sufficient to assume, that the mind des- 
troys life, by operating on these forces. 

But to prove that life, may, as it were, be shaken or extin- 
guished out of the system, by comparatively slight causes, 
when the mind can have no agency in the result. Dr. R. 
Nelson, of this city, states that he has noticed, that per- 
sons hit by cannon or musket balls, after the balls had 
spent their forces, are often most shockingly mangled and 
torn to pieces; but yet, they live, for a longer or shorter time. 
But when the body is struck by the ball immediately on its 
discharge from the cannon, the person is killed instantly, 
though the system may scarcely be injured at all. 

(5.) Another law peculiar to animal life, may be found m 
the sense o£ feeling. This peculiar sense seems to have been 
given for the preservation of the system from danger, and in- 
jury of every kind. And yet, we find the more essential any 
part in the vital economy is, the more insensible it is, and the 
Less susceptible to the sense of feeling from mere touch or vio- 
lence from contact with any other substance. Even the heart, 
the centre of the circulating organs which attracts and pro- 
pels the blood throughout the entire system, does not seem to 
possess, itself, any feeling, by which it can detect the touch 

B 



14 PATHETISM. 

of any external object, and this same insensibility seems to 
pervade all those organs most essential to life and health. — 
And the brain, and indeed, the entire nervous system, may be 
injured to any extent, without any sensation of pain in those 
organs. The brain may, and has been entirely destroyed, 
without destroying life at the same time. In cases of difficult 
labor, the brain of the foetus has been let out of the cranium 
for the purpose of procuring delivery, and yet the infant 
lived for some hours after birth. Dr. Nelson before referred to, 
narrates one or two cases of this kind, which occurred in his 
own practice. And a case is referred to in Graham's Sci- 
ence of Human Life, where the foetus was born alive without 
any brain, or the least semblance of a spinal marrow.* 

Now, how does it come to pass, if the galvanic forces con- 
stitute life, and these forces are conducted by the nervous sys- 
tem, we say how does it come to pass, that the nerves have 
no sensation except on the surface of the system ? Why have 
not the nerves, or the electric fluid in the nerves, as much 
sensation in one place as another ? How is it that the optic 
nerve is so insensible to everything but light ? How is it that 
the brain, the grand organ of thought and the centre of all 
feeling and sensation, itself has no feeling at all ? Especially 
if the brain be a real galvanic battery, which eliminates the 
vital energy which feels, how shall we account for it, that that 
important organ may be cut and, in fact, taken out of the 
cranium, without giving so much sense of pain even as the 
mere prick of a pin on the surface of the hand ? Is it not too 
plain to be doubted, that if electricity constituted animal life, 
every part of the system should be alike sensitive to pain from 
contact with any disturbing body ? Indeed, we should sup- 
pose, that in those portions where we could find the greatest 
amount of nervous matter, we should find the most electricity, 
and consequently, the highest sense of feeling from touch. — 

* It is said that brainless foetuses are not uncommon ; and we have 
the description of a case by Dr. Mayer, of Berlin, where one was 
born without either brain, spinal chord, or enciphalo-spinal nerves.— 
There was one nervous twig accompanying the venal artery, and aris- 
ing, apparently from the venal plexus. Other cases have been known 
where, though some of the cerebral organs were evolved, yet no nerves 
could be disxovered. 



HUMAN LIFE. 15 

But, on examination we find the state of things directly the 
reverse of this. The nerves themselves, have no more feel- 
ing than dead matter, except upon the surface of the system, 
and as we shall see, there are conditions of the living system 
in which the nerves of sensation are deprived of this function, 
a phenomenon which can satisfactorily be accounted for, only 
upon the supposition, that life is an element, governed and 
perpetuated by laws of its own. If it be objected that this 
element has never been seen, we answer, neither has the for- 
ces of the magnet ever been seen. And yet, who doubts of 
their existence ? 

In the succeeding chapter, some of the laws will be made 
to appear, by which living bodies are affected, and by which 
those results are induced, which we class under the terms ex- 
plained in the preceding pages.* 



CHAPTER III, 



SUSCEPTIBILITY. 



In treating on the susceptibilities of the living body, we en- 
ter upon a field, which has not, I believe, been so thorough- 
ly explored, as many other questions involved in the subject 
of human physiology. And yet, if I mistake not, it will be 
found to be one of immense importance, as it is connected 
with everything, which relates to human weal or wo. There 
is no pain or pleasure, no feeling, emotion, or passion com> 
mon to our nature, but has to do with that quality of the liv- 
ing body which I denominate susceptibility. And in a word ? 
all the results produced by any agency, whatever it may be, 
when exerted upon the mind or body, depend entirely, upon 
this quality of the human system. 

1. This susceptibility is peculiar to animal life. 

No agencies are known, by which any effects are produced, 
of the kind now under consideration, upon a dead body. 
Hence, it appears that all the influence ever excited upon the 
human system by pathetism, depended upon this peculiar 
quality of the system. 

1. Medicine produces no effects except by its power over 
this susceptibility. 

But why should not the stomach, and other portions of the 
system, immediately after death, be affected by medicine ? 
Who has ever been able to answer this question ? Indeed, 
we know, that while life remains, in certain cases, the most 
powerful drugs in the materia medica produce no effect at all. 
A case is on record of a man being engaged in alchemy, who 
could take four ounces of sweetened and sublimated mercury, 
without being purged. The only reason that can be assigned 
in such cases, is that the vital forces become so far destroyed 
or annihilated, that medicine cannot reach them ; and from 



SUSCEPTIBILITY. 17 

which it follows that the principle or susceptibility on which 
medicine operates in any case, is this quality, and which is 
peculiar to animal life; and certainly, the various theories of 
medicine are just as much responsible for their failure, as path- 
etism, when this agency is found inadequate to produce any 
desirable change in the health of the system. It will be found 
on enquiry, that the beneficial results of medicine, in any giv- 
en case, are nearly or quite as uncertain, as those attending 
the ordinary process of pathelising for the cure of disease. 

2. The effects of medicine are not only known to be ex- 
tremely uncertain, but widely different in different persons, 
and the effects vary at different times on the same system. 

This, we are told, depends upon the idiosyncrasy of the pa- 
tient, or that peculiar state of the constitution by virtue of 
which one feels a like or a dislike, or an indifference towards 
any given object. It is precisely so with pathetism; and we 
can no more account for these different dispositions in different 
individuals, than for the difference in the effects produced by 
manipulating the human system. 

3. All the emotions of pleasure or pnin are produced 
through this susceptibility. 

I do not, now, assume to tell, in what peculiar qualities or 
combinations of matter, this susceptibility consists; but I af- 
firm what every one knows, when I say, that there is a vast 
difference in the degrees to which different persons will be af- 
fected, agreeably or otherwise, by the same agency. Sensa- 
tion has been considered as the condition of self consciousness, 
which presupposes nothing more than life, for its existence. 
But we have seen that there may be life, where there is no 
susceptibility; and this shows that sensation depends on a pe- 
culiar condition of life, which is nothing more nor less than 
the susceptibility, upon which we operate in producing plea- 
sure or pain. And when we prcduce any kind of sensation 
in the mind of another through the eye or ear, or by a blow 
upon the body, there is really just as much mystery in the im- 
mediate agency by which an impression is produced upon the 
mind, in this case, as there is when we put a person into a 
state of sleep by merely holding the hand on the head. All 
we know is, that certain results follow certain means used. 



/ 



18 PATHETISM. 

4. No change of any hind is brought about in the living 
body without operating on this susceptibility. 

It is not reached through any one organ alone, but is dif- 
fused throughout the entire system. Nor is it reached with 
equal facility by the same means in different persons. One 
is found quite difficult to be affected by the ordinary course of 
medical treatment, and he is relieved at once by pathetising. 
The strains of music which melt and move the soul of one, 
have no effect at all upon another, who would at the same 
time be affected to tears, at the sight of human suffering. 

A knowledge of this quality of the living body will account 
for the diseases produced by contagion or infection ; for, whe- 
ther the substance producing the change, be received into the 
system, through the stomach or lungs, or the pores of the 
skin/ this is the medium through which the change is made, 
whether the agents be material substances, or those only, 
which produce feeling, emotion, passion, or change of any 
kind in the human mind. 

2. There is a reciprocal influence between this sus- 
ceptibility AND THE HUMAN MIND. 

I use the term mind to signify an intellectual, intelligent 
power, which is not predicable of mere animal life. Life is 
not intelligence. But that self-determining power in man, de- 
nominated the mind, is certainly manifested through the body, 
and all we know of its nature, we acquire through those or- 
gans, upon the healthy functions of which, it is dependent, 
from first to last, for the integrity of its deductions. For, to 
whatever standard we appeal, for the purpose of determining 
its nature and powers, we do so in the exercise of the cerebral 
functions, and whether we correctly apprehend what is admit- 
ted to be a divine revelation on this question or not, must de- 
pend upon the healthy state of those organs, through which 
the conclusions of the mind are manifested. 

(1.) The dependence of mind upon the developments of 
this susceptibility. Where is the mind of the foetus or of the 
child just born ? Where is the mind of the infant, or the id- 
iot, fifty years old ? It is agreed on all hands, that in these 
cases, there are no manifestations of mind. As in the vege- 



SUSCEPTIBILITY. 19 

table kingdom, those leaves which appear first, and are near- 
est the earth, are less matured, and soonest decay, while the 
flower and ripened seed require time for their full develop- 
ment ; so in the human species: in infancy we find little or 
no appearance of mind, till, by age, diet and exercise, the phy- 
sical organs become sufficiently developed for its various man- 
ifestations. At first, its faint gleamings are perceived, which 
correspond with the infantile proportions of the body, and up 
through childhood and youth, its powers may be traced in 
connection with the growth and health of the cerebral organs. 
When the body has reached the meridian of its development, 
in a healthy state, the mind also, is seen in the full exercise 
of its powers, and from this period, down through the decrep- 
itude of age, it sympathises with the infirmities of the body. 
To notice a few things a little more in detail : 

Sexual difference. In the male, the bones and muscles are 
stronger, and more regular, the arterial and cerebral systems 
are more developed; the lungs are stronger, and hence, more 
compass of voice and respiration. On the contrary, women 
will generally be found inferior in the bones and muscles, with 
larger venous and ganglionic systems. In men, the coarser, 
rougher qualities — in women, the finer and more delicate. — 
And hence, a corresponding psychological difference. Man is 
disposed for labor, courage, liberty and power. Woman, for 
purity, kindness and patience. 

The temperaments. As there are as many temperaments, 
properly speaking, as there are differences in the qualities of 
the physical systems of different persons, we have no terms 
by which they could be designated. The term temperament, 
from temper o, to mix together, has been used to signify that 
peculiar combination of the materials constituting the differ- 
ence in the susceptibilities and dispositions of different indi- 
viduals. Hence, we say that in a person of sanguine temper- 
ament, there is a corresponding development of hope and joy. 
In the nervous, the cerebral portions correspond; in the bi- 
lious, hard muscle, large firmness and energy ; in the lym- 
phatic, deficiency in firmness and industry, love of ease and 
inactivity. Diet makes a difference It is well known, that 



20 PATHETISM. 

all substances taken into the human stomach, which produce 
over excitement, or cause any derangement in the nervous 
system, invariably affect the mental powers more or less.— 
Instance the effects of alchohol, tobacco and opium. More 
than one-third of all the cases of insanity, in this country and 
in Europe, are produced by the use of intoxicating liquors ; 
and in China, similar results follow the use of opium. And 
will any one assume, that insanity, in these cases, is not caus- 
ed by the influence of the physical organs over the mind ? — 
Poisonous food frequently causes delirium. Two monks ate 
waler-hemlock. Both immediately complained of thirst, and 
plunged into the water, one thinking himself a goose, and the 
other that he was a duck, and both affirming, that they could 
live no where else but in the water.* 

And who does not know the weakening effects of hunger 
upon the mind, and the exhilaration which follows a full 
meal ? The difference between a flesh and a vegetable diet 
is well known. Flesh is more stimulating, producing a bi- 
lious, active, passionate, and sensual disposition ; while a ve- 
getable diet is favorable to the cultivation of a meek, subdued, 
childlike feeling, as is abundantly proved by the accounts we 
have of nations, communities, and individuals who have con- 
fined themselves to this way of living. 

The state of the health. The power of thought depends 
upon the state of the nervous system. Every one knows how 
difficult it is to put forth any considerable mental effort when 
the stomach or any of the vital organs are much diseased. — 
Severe pain in the head distracts the thoughts, and fevers fre- 
quently rage to such a degree, that mental derangement, and 
even raving madness ensues. A slight blow upon the head, 
changes entirely the activity of the mind, and at other times, 
instant death is the result. 

The want of sleep enfeebles the mind, and when wakeful- 
ness is continued too long, in some cases, it causes mental de- 
rangement. 

The effects of the air, the new moon and planets, have long 
been known, and more or less acknowledged, by all classes of 

* Dr. Rauch. 



SUSCEPTIBILITY. 21 

people. Indeed, the effects of climate are not more visible, 
scarcely, upon the vegetable or animal kingdoms, than upon 
the minds of men. Insanity has often been known to follow, 
what is called, a "stroke of the sun;" and that it has an in- 
fluence on animal life seems now to be generally admitted. 

M. Arago, in his account to the Academy of Sciences of the 
solar eclipse of 8th July, 1842, states, that he had often heard 
accounts of birds dying from the mere influence of an eclipse 
of the sun; but could scarcely credit the statement, as they 
could only die from fear; and the discharge of a gun ought to 
frighten them more, and yet it is certain that it does not kill 
them, unless they are actually hit. One of M. Arago's friends 
made the following experiment; He placed five linnets in a 
cage, they were lively and active, and fed up to the moment 
of the eclipse ; when the eclipse had terminated three of them 
were dead. 

A dog was kept fasting from morning; immediately before 
the eclipse he was offered food, and fell on it greedily; but 
when the dusk commenced he suddenly ceased eating. 

The horned cattle in the fields seemed affected with a kind 
of vague terror; during the eclipse they lay down in a circle, 
their heads being arranged toward the circumference, as if to 
face a common danger. 

The darkness influenced even the smaller animals. M. 
Froisse observed a number of mice which were running brisk- 
ly, become suddenly still when the eclipse began. 

The notion prevailed among the ancients, that the influence 
of the moon had a tendency to produce insanity, and hence 
this disease has taken the name of lunacy from luna the moon. 

The extremes of heat and cold are known to be unfavora- 
ble to the development of extraordinary intellectual powers. 
Too great a degree of heat relaxes the nervous and muscular 
systems; and by too much cold they are contracted, and cor- 
responding effects are produced upon the mind. It is in the 
temperate zones that we find the greatest exhibitions of intel- 
lectual power. It is here that we find it luxuriating in the 
majesty of its strength, and where, in the exercise of its attri- 
butes, it explores the hidden mysteries of nature, soaring in 



22 PATHETISM. 

illimitable space, with the stars and planetary worlds, or com- 
manding the laws which control the red winged lightning of 
heaven. 

(2.) The influence of the mind over the susceptibility. — 
The effects of joy are well known under this emotion, the res- 
piration becomes easy, the face is flushed with color, and the 
entire system seems animated with new life. Anger has been 
known both to cure and produce disease. This emotion is no 
sooner excited in the mind, than its influence is shown in the 
face, and throughout the muscular system. The eye is seen 
to change quickly, the teeth grate, and the hand is clenched 
in correspondence with this state of the mind. The vascular 
system, also, partakes of the general excitement. The blood 
is quickened in its circulation, and hence the heat of the body 
is increased. The secretions become more copious; and in 
some cases, their quality is perceptibly changed. Indeed, 
most of the emotions and passions of the human mind, are 
usually shown in the countenance, and excite more or less in- 
fluence over the nervous system; and hence the origin of the 
various theories of physiognomy which have been put forth 
from time to time. 

One of the most mysterious agencies in nature is that which 
is communicated from the mind through the voice. All the 
emotions of the heart have corresponding tones of voice. In 
joy it is clear and full; in anger loud and rough; in fear, it is 
tremulous and low, as it is, also, under deep and tender emo- 
tions. And it is worthy of remark, that those gestures which 
are true to nature, are at first, perfectly involuntary. In fear, 
the face grows pale ; in fright, the hands are raised and drawn 
back; in devotion or joy, the hands are raised and clasped. — 
So in the look of the eye, the turn of the lip, wrinkling of the 
forehead, emotion is frequently expressed, with more empha- 
sis than could be done in words, alone. One hand open, and 
stretched out, salutes; both open and extended, invite; and 
with one finger we direct, point out, or command. The head 
affirms or assents by nodding, and denies by shaking. Bend- 
ing forward, it indicates devotion, or modesty, and thus the 
whole body is made to talk and express the emotions of the 
mm d. 



SUSCEPTIBILITY. 23 

Volumes might be filled, demonstrating this power, but my 
limits will only allow a partial view of this subject. 

A skilful physician related to me the following : — 

A man called on him for medical advice, complaining that 
all the medicines he had taken for some time previous, had 
the effect of an aperient. He seemed to think he had been 
imposed upon by the doctors, and begged to know of my 
friend Dr. W. if he could not give him something that would 
benefit him without producing this effect. The Doctor assur- 
ed him that he had no doubt at all, that he could gratify him 
in this respect. Accordingly, he retired to another room, and 
prepared a few pills, entirely of ivheat bread, and handed 
them to the patient, with suitable directions. In the course 
of a few days, the Doctor fell in with the patient, and received 
from him a severe castigation. "Why, Doctor," said he, 
" those pills you gave me physicked me almost to death. I 
never took any thing before so powerful !" 

I reminded the Doctor that he had made a mistake in giv- 
ing the patient pills of any kind. Had the same substance 
been given in the form of powders, probably it would have 
produced no effect at all. 

I had the following from a scientific gentleman of this city. 
A little daughter of his was indisposed, and he gave her, for 
an aperient, a little pure water slightly coloured with wine. 
She thought it was tincture of rhubarb, and it affected her 
accordingly. 

I had a patient, a very intelligent lady, who was so susceptible 
that she would drink from a tumbler of clear water, and be- 
lieve what she drank to be lemonade, coffee, brandy, or any 
other liquid which I told her it was; and this she did in the 
waking state. I once gave her a tumbler of water slightly 
coloured with molasses, telling her it was senna; and she de- 
clared it to be senna, on drinking it, and it produced the desir- 
ed effect. 

Burton (Anat. Mel. vol. 1, p. 221,) says, a person who has 
often taken nauseating medicines, will be nauseated by the 
thought of receiving it again; and a thought has often proved 
a powerful emetic. And not only has a thought proved an 



24 PATHETISM. 

emetic, but the sight of a distasteful cathartic hag for some 
time operated the same, as when that medicine is actually 
received into the stomach, as testified by many experienced 
physicians, especially as related by Cornelius Agrippa (out of 
Gulielmus Parisiensus). In another place he says : 

"Men, if they see but another man tremble, giddy, or sick 
of some fearful disease, their apprehension and fear are so 
strong in this kind, that they will have such a disease. Or if 
by some soothsayer, wise man, fortune teller, or physician, 
they be told they shall have such a disease, they will so se- 
riously apprehend it, that they will instantly labour of it — a 
thing familiar in China (saith Riccius the Jesuit). if it be 
told them that they shall be sick on such a day, when that 
day comes they will surely be sick, and will be so terribly af- 
flicted, that sometimes they will die upon it." 

A fact is stated in Lockhart's life of Sir Walter Scott, which 
shows the power of mind over the system, to prevent at will, 
the usual effects of medicine. It is related by Scott himself, 
of a common farmer, whose father had given him a quantity 
of laudanum, instead of some other medicine. This mistake 
was instantly discovered ; but the young man had sufficient 
energy and force of mind to resist the operation of the drug. 
While all around him were stupid with fear, he started up, 
saddled his horse, and rode to Selkirk, a distance of six or 
seven miles, thus saving the time that the doctor must have 
taken in coming to him. His agony of mind prevented the 
pperation of the opiate until he had alighted, when it 'instant- 
ly began to operate. He was, however, perfectly recovered. 

Some ten years ago, while laboring under a severe inflamma- 
tion of the throat and lungs, a friend prepared for me a mix- 
ture of molasses and camphor. Soon after taking it I began 
to feel strangely, and, on inquiry, found that I had actually 
eaten a piece of the gum, larger than a nutmeg. I felt, of 
course, a little alarmed, but immediately resolved that it 
should not overcome the nervous system, inasmuch as I had 
an appointment to appear before a public meeting that even- 
ing. I walked, durrng an hour or so, resisting all the while 
the action of the camphor by a determined resolution not to 
be overcome by it; and, without any difficulty, I succeeded, 



SUSCEPTIBILITY. 25 

to the no small surprise of the friends who had become 
cognizant of what I had done. 

Dr. James Gregory ordered an opiate to a young man, to 
relieve sleepless nights, under which he had suffered in con- 
valescence from fever. He informed the patient that he had 
prescribed an anodyne, to be taken at bedtime; but the invalid 
being somewhat deaf, understood him to say an aperient. 
Next morning, on the doctor's inquiring whether he had slept 
after the anodyne, he replied " Anodyne ! I thought it was an 
aperient, and it has indeed operated briskly." 

A female lunatic was admitted into the county asylum, at 
Hanwell, under Sir Wiliam Ellis. She imagined that she 
was labouring under a complaint that required the use of 
mercury; but Sir William, finding the idea of that disease 
was an insane delusion, yet considering that flattering the 
opinion of the lunatic to a certain degree, would be favorable 
to the recovery of her reason, ordered bread pills for her, and 
called them mercurial pills. After a few days she was sali- 
vated, and the pills were discontinued. On again ordering 
them after the salivation had subsided, she was a second 
'time affected in the same manner ; and this again happened 
on the recurrence to the use of the pills a third time. 

A physician states, that a lady under his care assured him 
that opium, in any form, always caused headache, and rest- 
lessness, and vomiting on the following morning; and on pre- 
scribing laudanum for her, under its usual name, " tinctura 
opii," he found that her account of its effects was correct; 
but on prescribing it under the term " tinctura thebaica," 
which she did not understand, (she read every prescription,) 
it produced its usual salutary effect, and was continued for 
some time without inducing the smallest inordinate action. 

I have heard of a case, in which the hair was changed, 
from black to gray, in a few hours, merely by the effects of 
fear. 

And, numerous cases of death, have occurred, produced 
merely by the influence of mind over this susceptibility. 

The Areekee are a sect among the heathen in New Zea- 
land, described by Mr. White, a Wesley an Missionary, who 
c 



26 PATHETISM. 

says: "They pretend to have intercourse with departed 
spirits, by which they are able to kill, by incantation, any 
person on whom their anger may fall; and it is a fact," adds 
Mr. White, " that numbers fall a prey to their confidence in 
the efficacies of the curses of these men, and pine under the 
influence of despair and die." — Miss. Her. vol. 23, p. 314. 

Burton, (Anat. of Mel.) speaks of a Jew in France, who 
walked by chance, in the dark, over a dangerous passage or 
plank, that lay over a brook, without harm; the next day 
perceiving what danger he had been in, he dropped down 
dead. He further records that at Basil, a child died through 
fright by seeing a malefactor hung in gibbets ; and that in the 
same town, beyond the Rhine, another child died on seeing a 
carcase taken from the grave. 

The ease of the criminal who was condemned to die, is well 
known. The physicians obtained leave to experiment upon 
him in the following manner: He was blindfolded, and made 
to believe that he was to be bled to death. A vessel of water 
was placed near him, and when his arm had been operated 
upon, as if a vein had been opened, the water was set to run- 
ning, so that the noise of the small stream sounded like the 
blood issuing from the arm. In a few minutes the patient 
began to complain of faintness. His pulse grew more and 
more feeble, till in a short time he actually expired, and this, 
too, when not one drop of blood had been drawn from his 
veins. 

It is recorded of a Roman mother, that she instantly died of 
joy, on meeting her son as he returned from the battle of Can- 
nse, where she supposed he had been slain by the veterans of 
Hannibal. 

A lady in Kentucky, the wife of David Prentiss, Esq. fell 
dead in an instant, while reading a letter which brought her 
the news of her husband's death. 

Well authenticated cases are upon record, which go to 
show that the mind may sometimes assume such an astonish- 
ing degree of power over this susceptibility, as to control the 
involuntary muscles, and indeed, suspend the entire functions 
of the animal system. It is said of Betterton, an actor, that 



SUSCEPTIBILITY. 27 

he could, at will, reader his face pale, and perfectly bloodless ; 
and a case is mentioned by Blumenbach, of a man, who could 
in the same way, control the action of his own stomach. A 
German, now living, by the name of Kerner, it is said,* pos- 
sesses the power of suspending the action of his own heart; 
and I have frequently done the same thing for a few moments, 
in some cases of somnipathy. 

A most extraordinary instance, illustrating this power, is 
given by Dr. Cheyne.f It was in the case of Col. Townshend, 
who, after having been sometime indisposed, sent for Drs. 
Baynard and Cheyne, the latter of whom gives the following 
account of what they heard and saw : — 

" He told us he had sent for us to give him some account 
of an odd sensation he had for some time observed and felt in 
himself: he could die or expire when he pleased, and yet by 
an effort, or somehow, he could come to life again ; which it 
seems he had sometimes tried before he had sent for us. We 
heard this with surprise; but as it was not to be accounted for 
from any common principles, we could hardly believe the fact 
as he related it, much less give any account of it, unless he 
should please to make the experiment before us, which we 
were unwilling he should do, lest in his weak condition he 
might carry it too far. He continued to talk very distinctly 
and sensibly above a quarter of an hour about this (to him) 
surprising sensation, and insisted so much on our seeing the 
trial made, that we were at last forced to comply. We all 
three felt his pulse first; it was distinct though small and 
thready, and his heart had its usual beating. He composed 
himself on his back, and lay in a still posture some time; 
while I held his right hand, Dr. Baynard laid his hand on his 
heart, and Mr. Skrine held a clean looking glass to his 
mouth. I found his pulse sink gradually, till at last I could 
not feel any by the most exact and nice touch. Dr. Baynard 
could not feel the least motion of his heart, nor Mr. Skrine 
the least soil of breath on the bright mirror he held to his 
mouth; then each of us by turns examined his arm, heart, 
and breath, but could not by the nicest scrutiny discover the 
least symptoms of life in him. We reasoned a long time about 
this odd appearance as well as we could, and all of US judging 
it inexplicable and unaccountable; and finding that he still 
continued in that condition, we began to conclude that he had 

* London Lancet, Feb. IS, 1S43. 

t Treatise on Nervous Diseases, p. 307. 



28 PATHETISM. 

indeed carried the experiment too far, and at last were satisfied 
he was actually dead, and were just ready to leave him. This 
continued about half an hour, by 9 o'clock in the morning, in 
autumn. As we were going away, we observed some motion 
afcout the body, and upon examination, found his pulse and 
the motion of his heart returning ; he began to breathe gently, 
and speak softly : we were all astonished to the last degree 
at this unexpected change, and after some further conversa- 
tion with him and among ourselves, we went away fully sat- 
isfied as to all the particulars of this fact, but confounded and 
puzzled, and not able to form any rational scheme that might 
account for it. He afterwards called for his attorney, added 
a codicil to his will, settled legacies on his servants, received 
the sacrament, and calmly and composedly expired about five 
and six o'clock that evening." 

A case was related some two years since by an eminent 
physician to his medical class, in Boston, Mass., substantially 
as follows. A lady applied to him for the treatment of a can- 
cer upon the right side of her face, about the size of a two- 
quart bottle. Upon deciding that an operation would be ne- 
cessary to save her life, she expressed great unwillingness to 
submit to it, and asked him if he could not ghe her some- 
thing that would lessen the pain when it was performed. To 
gratify her he gave her something for this purpose. Three 
days after, she came to him again, and informed him, that she 
had fortunately, heard of a cure, and which she would try, 
with his approval. It was this — that if she should apply the 
hand of a dead man to the cancer, three mornings in succes- 
sion, it would certainly prove effectual; a neighbor had just 
died, thus affording an opportunity for the trial. 

At first, the Dr. was disposed to laugh at her notions, but 
finally', concluded it best to yield to them, and so expressed a 
hope that the means proposed might prove successful. In 
about three weeks afterwards, this same woman returned, 
and putting her hand up to her face where the cancer had 
been, said, "Dr., look here!" And sure enough, the Dr. on 
examination, found the cancer had wholly disappeared. 

The above cases show most clearly, the astonishing influ- 
ence which the mind often exerts over one's own nervous sys- 
tem. And that the mind of one person may exert an influ- 



SUSCEPTIBILITY. 29 

encc over the susceptibility of others, is just as plain as that 
we are ever affected at all by what we hear or see done by 
others. How often are whole assemblies of people moved even 
to tears, by what they see and hear from another, speaking or 
acting before them. But that peculiar agency by which the 
speaker transfers his own feelings into the minds of his hear- 
ers, is nothing more nor less than the subject of our present in- 
quiry. 

The following case will show the power which one mind 
sometimes acquires over the susceptibility of another, even 
when the latter does not seem to have any apprehension of 
what is done to him. 

Mr. Forbes, in the 2d vol. of his oriental memoirs, says 
that — "he was acquainted with a Banian named Lullabhy. 
the richest man in the city, who was universally believed "to 
possess the power of curing the bite of venomous serpents, 
by a knowledge peculiar to himself, which he never impart- 
ed to another. By this art, he certainly recovered many na- 
tives from a desperate state, after being wounded by the cobra- 
di'capello and the scarlet snake of Cubbeer-Burr, without 
touching the patient, or prescribing any thing inwardly. 

11 Mr, Gambier, at that time chief of Barache, was extreme- 
ly incredulous respecting talismans, charms, divinations and 
preternatural pretensions of the Bramins; and his opinion of 
Lullabhy was publicly known, when a circumstance in his 
own garden afforded a fair opportunity of detecting its fallacy. 
One of the under gardeners was bitten by a cobra-di-capcllo, 
and pronounced to be in danger. Mr. Gambier was holding 
a council in an upper pavilion, and at the desire of Mr. Per- 
rott, their second council, immediately sent for Lullabhy, 
without informing him of the incidents, of which he remain- 
ed ignorant until ushered into the chief's presence. The gar- 
dener was lying on a slight bed of cane rope, in a veranda 
adjoining the council room. 

" Being asked if he could effect a cure, Lullabhy modestly 
replied, that by God's blessing he trusted he should succeed. 
The poor wretch was at this time, in great agony and deliri- 
ous; be afterwards became torpid and speechless; still Lul- 
labhy was not permitted to commence his operations. The 
members of council anxiously waited the chief's permission, 
especially, when Lullabhy asserted, that any farther loss of 

time would render it too late. Mr. Gambier examined the 
man's pulse by a stop watch, amd when convinced that his 
dissolution was inevitably approaching, he allowed Lullabhv 
cl 



30 FATHETISM, 

to exert his influence. After a short silent prayer, Lullabhy 
in presence of all the company, moved his short dagger over 
the head of the expiring man, without touching him. The 
patient continued for some time, motionless; in half an hour 
his heart began to beai, circulation quickened, and within the 
hour he moved his limbs and recovered his senses. At the ex- 
piration of the third hour, Lullabhy had effected his cure. — 
The man was sent home to his family, and in a few days re- 
covered from the weakness occasioned by convulsive parox- 
isms, which probably would neither have been so severe nor 
of such long continuance, had the counteracting power been 
sooner applied." 

/ Of the truth of this account there can be no reasonable 
doubt, and it is scarcely more extraordinary than many well 
attested cases of cure by pathetism ; though it differs from 
the common cases of the latter kind, inasmuch as it does not 
appear, that the operator in this cure, came in contact with 
his patient, or that he even so much as touched him with his 
dagger. The laws by which the mind, (and through this the 
susceptibility,) is affected without contact, will appear in the 
sequel. 

The foregoing facts demonstrate the influence of the mind 
over health and life. The following are of another class, but 
show as clearly the power of which I am now speaking. — 
Cases are well known, where a sudden fright of the mother 
has left an indelible impression upon the child. Dr. Howship 
relates the case of a woman who was crossing a frozen river 
in a state of pregnancy. The ice cracked and burst, and she 
was terribly frightened. When the child was bom, its skin 
was gaped considerably in several places. The sight of an 
epileptic has been known to transfer this disease to the foetus ; 
and a case is reported by Dr. Joslin, in which a child was 
born with small pox, in consequence of the exposure of its 
mother, only thirty days previous to the birth of the child, and 
this too, when the mother had been perfectly secured from 
varioloid, by vaccination, some thirty years before. There 
were upon the body of the child, about one hundred and sev- 
enty regularly formed small-pox pustules, of the usual size, 
and filled with a yellowish purulent matter.* 

* New York Lancet , May 21, 1842. — Two similar cases are given in 



SUSCEPTIBILITY. 3t 

The sight of an ugly or disagreeable person has been known 
to produce an effect upon the features of the embryo. Indeed, 
this principle is recognised in the bible as governing the sus- 
ceptibilities of animals. [Gen. 30: 37.] It was acknow- 
ledged by the Lacedemonians, when they placed beautiful sta- 
tues in the rooms with their pregnant wives. It would seem 
that this susceptibility is greatly increased during the period 
of gestation. I knew a mother, who, during this state, drank 
two quarts of brandy in twenty-four hours, without showing 
any degree of intoxication; and at another time, she ate two 
quarts or more of raw rice, without any injury. Tulpius 
speaks of a lady who devoured 1400 herrings during pregnan- 
cy; and of a woman who ate twenty pounds of pepper; and 
another who ate a live carp from head to tail. Another bit 
off the heads of twelve mullets and ate them; and another 
who actually murdered her own husband, and after eating 
what she could, salted the rest for future use. 

There is another property of the living body, which it 
would be unpardonable not to notice in this connection, and 
especially as it would seem to be so directly connected with 
the general subject now under consideration. The skin, which 
covers the entire surface of the body, is rilled with innumera- 
ble pores, so inconceivably small, that in many places they 
are scarcely visible to the naked eye. In this covering the 
nerves of sensation are commenced, but the functions to which 
I would call the attention of the reader, are those, simply, 
which are known under the term perspiration and absorption, 
or inhibition. Life and health could not be continued for any 
length of time, but for the constant exhalation of a fluid 
through these pores, amounting in weight to more than onc- 

the same work for March 26, and April 26, 1842 ; and another in the 
London Lancet for Feb. 4, 1842. And from such facts as the following 
it would seem, that the same law predominates over the susceptibili- 
ties of the feathered tribe also. " A hen belonging to Benj. Callaway, 
Esq., of Weakley county, Tenn., was some time ago bitten by a rattle- 
snake, but by proper attention the wound was cured. However, strange 
to tell, we are informed that every egg laid since thai time by this hen 
has a picture of a rattlesnake represented upon the shell ! Mr. Calla- 
way, who is afraid to use these eggs in the Family, has kept them, and 
will with pleasure exhibit them to the inspection of the incredulous. — 
N. Y. Sun j April 11. 1843. 



32 PATHETISM, 

half of all the food and drink received into the stomach, and 
larger, also, than that disposed of by the other secretions. 

That various substances are received into the system, 
through the skin, or from the surface of the body, is as well 
known as any fact connected with human physiology. The 
hand, immersed in warm water, will absorb between seventy 
and one hundred grains of the fluid, in the course of one hour; 
and the weight of the entire system is proportionally increased, 
by remaining for a short time, completely covered with wa- 
ter. 

Seamen, when suffering from thirst, have obtained relief by 
applying wet clothes to the skin, or bathing even in salt wa- 
ter. 

Bathing the head with alchohol will produce intoxication, 
and metallic quicksilver has been found even in the bones of 
persons who had been subjected to mercurial frictions. Va- 
rious medicines and poisons are received into the system by 
being merely applied to the skin ; and from this well-known 
disposition of the system to drink in the substances applied 
to the surface, a theory of medicine was commenced some 
three or four cenluries before Christ, and which has since re- 
ceived the name of Ialroleptic, from the practice of anointing 
the body, or applying medicine to the surface by friction. 

If the system be thus pervious to fluids, how much more 
so must it be to imponderable gases, or agencies as subtle as 
magnetism or electricity ? If a bladder be filled with hydro- 
gen gas, and suspended in the air, it will be penetrated in a 
short time by the air with which it is surrounded; and when 
external agencies are applied to the surface of the body, it is 
not unreasonable to suppose, but that they may penetrate and 
affect the vital forces, with equal facility. 

Two of the most important pathological facts, demonstrat- 
ing this susceptibility, we find detailed in the London Lancet 
for Jan. 14, 1843. They are given by Dr. W. F. Bow, and 
are as follows: — 

" One remarkable phenomenon, incomprehensible without 
. the aid of the law of nervous induction, results from the ac- 
tion on the surface of the body produced by a blister. This 



SUSCEPTIBILITY. 33 

phenomenon I shall describe in the words of the author, who 
first made me cognizant of it : — * Thus I have been informed 
by a respectable surgeon, that he found on opening the cran- 
ium of a patient who had died after a blister had been recent- 
ly applied, an inflamed mark y exactly corresponding in shape 
and size with the external mark of the blister, which penetra- 
ting the scalp, and the cranium, ivas distinctly visible on the 
dura mater.' 

" Mr. Porter, in his surgical observations on the diseases of 
the Larynx and Trachea, expresses himself strongly against 
the use of blisters in acute laryngites, particularly when ap- 
plied to the neighborhood of the part. He says they cannot 
be resorted to at an early period without doing considerable 
mischief. A case is related when, in acute pneumonia, the 
application of a blister was followed by an aggravation of the 
symptoms and death. On dissection, a portion of the surface 
of the lung exactly corresponding to the size and shape of 
the blister, was found in a more advanced stage of inflamma- 
tion than the remaining pulmonary tissue. 

" I have been told by a gentleman whose opportunities for 
observation have been frequent, that he has repeatedly seen 
marks on the pleura, covering the lungs, leaving the size and 
shape of the blister which had been applied to the chest, and 
the same on the intestinal peritoneum, of the size and shape 
of the blister which had been applied to the abdomen," 

And Dr. Bow adds : 

"The knowledge of the fact, that a morbid action artificial- 
ly produced on the skin, will excite a similar action on an in- 
ternal surface, is of the highest practical importance ; for if 
we find, that by lessening the contractile power of the capil- 
laries of an internal surface, we may rest assured, that we 
have also the power of increasing the contractile power of 
the capillaries of an internal surface, by applying to the adja- 
cent external surface, agents which we know do augment the 
contractile power of the capillaries of the skin." 

The inferences to be drawn from the foregoing facts, will 
be seen in the course of the following pages. 

3. The adaptation of the different sTTScEPTiniLrrres 

TO THE ECONOMY AND GENERAL PURPOSES OF LIFE. 

In no part of the Great Creator's works do we see his wis- 
dom and goodness more strikingly exhibited, tlum in this pro- 
perty of the human system. Thus we find the organic sus- 
ceptibility of the stomach, is adapted to those articles of food 



34 PATHETISM. 

which by the same plastic hand, have been organized and 
prepared for the nourishment of the body. And this import- 
ant organ has with propriety enough, been denominated the 
conscience of the system ; for when in a healthy condition, 
with what fidelity does the little feelers with which its inner 
surface is endowed, detect the qualities of the different sub- 
stances received into it? And with what surprising readi- 
ness do its muscular fibres commence their action on these 
substances, and the whole structure, as it were, becomes agi- 
tated in its efforts to digest and dispose of them, according to 
the wants of the various parts of the body. So if we exam- 
ine the circulating organs, we shall see the same adaptation 
in the susceptibility of the heart, veins, arteries, and capilla- 
ries. We find in the human species, what we may call a 
double heart, as it certainly consists of two separate organs, 
each of which gives motion to a different kind of blood. And 
as the blood is poured from one of them into the arteries, the 
extreme elasticity of these little tubes, aid in sending that im- 
portant Uuid into every part of the system. And the same 
forces assist in circulating the lymph and chyle, and in some 
cases this subtile power has continued to act for some thirty 
minutes after death had separated the head from the body. 

And how susceptible are the respiratory organs to the pres- 
ence and properties of air? If we examine the texture and 
shape of the lungs, together with their functions, and the re- 
lation they sustain to the other vital organs, we shall see the 
truth of this remark. 

The same may be said also, of the sensorial functions. — 
The nerves of sensation commence in the extremes of every 
portion of the system, so that no part of the surface can be 
found where they are not ; and all centering in the brain, we 
see their adaptation to the great and important purposes for 
which they were designed. All the organs of motion also, 
send their respective nerves up to the same centre, where the 
mind takes cognizance of the impressions made upon the 
nerves, and from which the will gives out its mandates to be 
obeyed by the various parts of the system which have been 
subjected to its control. In a word, the whole of this suscep- 



SUSCEPTIBILITY. 35 

tibility may, perhaps, be traced, more or less, to the functions 
of the nervous or ganglionic system. Consisting of so many 
parts, so minutely and mysteriously constructed, and distribu- 
ted over the entire body, and all concentrating in the brain, it 
is curious enough, to see how insensible the brain, nerves and 
ganglia, themselves are, while they are evidently the medium 
through which all sensation, emotion, passion, or feeling of 
any and every kind, which become subjects of recollection and 
reflection in the human mind. 

Hence, it is plain, that the different susceptibilities of the 
living body, are exactly adapted to the real necessities of the 
system; and it follows, that if we find one susceptible to the 
influence of pathetism, it is because the system needs its aid 
in the performance of its various functions; and, on the other 
hand, if the patient is not susceptible to any influence from this 
agency, it is because the system does not need it, but having 
other susceptibilities, it must be relieved by the most appro- 
priate means. 

This chapter shall now be concluded, by a few observations 
designed to assist in judging of what maybe denominated the 
pathetetic susceptibility; that quality of the system which 
renders one susceptible of any influence from the process of 
manipulation. 

1. The Temperament. — I have before stated, that there 
may be said to be as many temperaments as there are per- 
sons in existence. What I mean is, that the qualities of no two 
systems are exactly alike, or are affected precisely in the same 
manner under the same process. The temperament which is 
most susceptible to the influence of pathetism, is one, which, 
for distinction's sake, we may denominate the sympathic, be- 
cause it most readily yields to the touch of the human hand. 
Most somnambulists, and somniloquists, will be found of 
this temperament. It is most readily recognized as a mix- 
ture of the nervous lymphatic, or lymphatic, sanguine, and 
nervous. In such persons we shall generally notice a bland, 
blue, or grey eye, with extended pupil; soft muscle; hair tend- 
ing to hazel, or light sandy color. The mouth will be some- 
what wider than ordinary, and the inside of the hand will be 
found generally cold, or in a state of perspiration. 



36 PATHETISM. 

2. Phrenological Developments. — The organs of firmness 
small, and the occipital and basilar portions, inferior. Per- 
sons highly susceptible will usually have the front portion 
marked on the ordinary phrenological busts as Ideality, large, 
and fully developed. 

There are other marks, which every experienced operator 
must have noticed, but they are not so easily described. 

Various diseases often develope this susceptibility, and ren- 
der it quite easy to affect persons when indisposed, who are 
not influenced, by this agency at all, in a state of good health. 

The manner of testing a person's susceptibility, is described 
in the process of pathetising, in a succeeding chapter. There 
is, however, a still more simple process, as follows : 

Let the subject be seated where one of the hands and arms 

may lay perfectly easy. The patient should consent to give 

you complete control of that hand, and cease to exercise his 

will over it in any way. Then pass your hand, gently, from the 

shoulder down inside of his, to the ends of the fingers. Bring 

your fingers inside of his, gently, as if you would cause it to 

follow your own. Let this process be continued, and if the 

patient be susceptible, the effects will be felt, or seen, in the 

course of five or ten minutes.* 

* Since the above chapter was in type, my attention has been called 
toTIahneman's Organon of Homoepathic medicine, pp. xviii. xx. 193, 199, 
200,202, 207,208, 211, from which it is perfectly' evident, that Hahne- 
man recognized the principle of pathetism, (or magnetism,) in the 
preparation of his medicine ; and not only so, but his infinitesimal doses, 
when effectual, perform their cures by this very agency. So that every 
consistent Homoepathist is, in fact, a pathist, though he may not be 
aware of it. 



CHAPTER IV. 



SYMPATHY AND ANTIPATHY. 



It will facilitate the object we have in view, if we next in- 
quire into the nature of those laws of the living body which 
are concerned in producing what has generally been under- 
stood by Sympathy and Antipathy. In the last chapter I have 
merely taken a cursory view of a few psychological and path- 
ological facts, the most of which have long been well known, 
though, indeed, it will be acknowledged, I think, that they 
have not been so well understood, nor has there been so much 
use made of them in the various medical theories as we might 
now, suppose, would have been, had correct views more 
generally obtained with regard to the true science of human 
life. And, a similar remark may be made of what I am about 
to offer on the subject of sympathy and antipathy, 

I have before shown, that the term sympathy has been used 
to signify a state of fellow feeling or suffering; when applied 
to the physical system it has been used to signify the suffer- 
ing, or state of one part of the body, produced by the state or 
suffering of another. Without attempting a repetition of all 
that may be found in medical works on this subject, it will 
perhaps best subserve my purpose, if I bring to my aid the 
conclusions to which previous writers have arrived, and 
add, also, whatever may appear to be connected with these 
laws, in the examination I have been enabled to give to this 
part of human physiology. In the use, therefore, which I 
here make of the term sympathy, it must not only be under- 
stood to signify the state of one part which suffers, by the in* 
fiucnce which another, in a previous state of suffering, extends 
to it, but also, that influence which one organ, or portion 
of the system, is found to exert upon another part, what- 
ever its nature may be; and further, the reciprocal in- 

D 



38 PATHET1SM. 

fluences which are extended from one part of the body to an- 
other, and which harmonise in producing any one effect which 
may be seen throughout the system generally. 

By antipathy, must be understood, of course, the reverse of 
sympathy. The following remark is from Dr. Good : 

'* We occasionally meet among mankind, with a sort of 
sensation altogether wonderful and inexplicable. There are 
some persons so peculiarly affected by the presence of a partic- 
ular object, that is neither seen, tasted, heard, smelt or touch- 
ed, as not only to be conscious of its presence, but to be in ag- 
ony till it is removed. The vicinity of a cat not unfrequently 
produces such an effect, and I have been a witness to the 
most decisive proofs of this in several instances," 

I knew a person who was so much affected with the smell 
of onions, as to be unable to remain in the house where they 
were; and it is said, Henry the Third, of France, could not en- 
dure the presence of a cat. Lord Chancellor Bacon fell down 
in a fit whenever there was an eclipse of the moon; the phi- 
losopher Boyle could not endure the sound of water drawn 
from a cock. Erasmus trembled at the smell or sight offish; 
Marshall d'Albert fainted at the sight of a sucking pig; La 
Mollie la Voyer could not endure the sound of music ; and 
Shakspeare speaks of some person in his day who could not 
endure the sound of the bagpipe. The celebrated astronomer 
Brahe, was totally paralyzed in his limbs at the sight of a 
live hare ; and we have known intelligent persons who could 
not endure the sight of a rat. Some persons are peculiarly af- 
fected on touching certain kinds of metals, and others are af- 
fected in the same way if they touch them only in their imagin- 
ation. An intelligent lady of my acquaintance had such an 
antipathy to spiders, that for eight years she retained the 
sense of disgust and horror, which it gave her, on finding one 
upon her person. 

Now, it is quite certain, that these states of feeling do not 
depend upon the judgment, but they must have their origin 
in a peculiarity of the physical nature of each person. So it 
is in common life. There is, as it were, an atmosphere sur- 
rounding every individual, and which you perceive at once, 
when you approach him. On the first sight of one person, 



SYMPATHY AND ANTIPATHY. 39 

you feel instinctively repelled, and you do not find it possible 
to feel pleased with being near to him, or to delight in his 
company. But, with another person you are delighted at 
•once. You feel an attachment to him, for which you can 
render no reason at all, no more than you could for the anti- 
pathy you felt for the other. All our feelings of love, friendship, 
and dislike, are founded in this peculiarity of our nature. It is 
a law of nature to work by opposite forces. Two poles of 
the same denomination, repel and expand ; two opposite poles 
contract and attract. Two contiguous keys on the piano, 
harmonise less, than two divided by a third. The attraction 
grows out of the relation between the two, when one possesses 
positively, what is possessed by the other negatively. So, 
nature has provided the two sexes for the propagation of the 
different species of living bodies, and, it will be found, that 
parents of the same susceptibilities, have the least issue, and 
their offspring, if they have any, is generally short lived. 

This much premised, observe — 

1. The correspondence of the different parts, and 
the general sympathy of the whole body with the 

MIND. 

I have, already, noticed the reciprocal influence of the body 
and mind, and we have seen the effects which the one is 
known to produce upon the other. This influence is shown 
in the features and form of the body. Hence, in the face of a 
savage we see a savage mind. With a well formed head we 
anticipate understanding and strength of intellect. A low, 
thick head, selfishness and stupidity ; a small head, small mind. 
A large, well developed body, full ehest — muscular strength. 
Round, blunt features, obtuseness of mind ; sharp features, 
hard muscle, correspond with quickness of temper, speech, 
and action. 

Persons of a bilious temperament, will, usually, be found 
with large firmness, destructiveness, and combativeness. — 
They may, indeed, have large pity, kindness, and friendship, 
but the organs first named, either make this temperament, 
or most generally accompany it. So, we find persons of the 
sanguine temperament, with large hope; those of the lyni- 



40 PATHETISM. 

phatic, with industry, firmness, and will, moderate. And, 
slight observation will convince us that in every case, a mark- 
ed correspondence may be traced throughout the mental and 
physical developments, extending to the face, limbs and trunk 
of the body, and manifested in the tones, gestures, and gen- 
eral conduct. 
2. There are sympathies peculiar to different parts 

OF THE SYSTEM, DEPENDING ON THE RELATION WHICH ONE PART 
SUSTAINS TO ANOTHER. 

That is, the part that is said to suffer by sympathy, is af- 
fected by its relation to some other part, in which the cause 
of the difficulty really exists. Thus, titillation of the fauces 
produces vomiting. In this case the stomach is not touched ,. 
nor affected, only by sympathy. The same means applied to 
the nostrils produces motion in the exspiratory muscles in the 
act of sneezing. The sight of food, excites the salivary glands* 

A slight increase of action in the stomach, will frequently 
diminish the action of the brain, and increased mental activity 
will decrease the action of the stomach. Injury of nerves, just 
as of any other organs, in proportion to their importance, may 
affect parts, which they do not supply; but with which they 
are connected ; as amaurosis, and even cataract may follow 
wounds of the nerves belonging, not to the eye, but to the 
face; and convulsions may follow wounds of the acoustic 
nerve ; and diseases of the kidneys, says Dr. Elliotson, some- 
times produce inflammation in the corresponding portions of 
the spinal chord. 

Hence, it is evident that the effects of sympathy do not, al- 
ways, appear in the portions of the system which are mostly 
affected. When a voluntary muscle is made to contract, the 
suffering produced by sympathy, would seem to be in the 
nerves, peculiar to this agency, connected with the muscle, 
while the effects are shown in the muscle. And hence, Bichat 
found that sympathy of animal conlractibility occurs only 
when the nerves connecting the affected muscle with the 
brain, or spinal chord, were entire. For, when he divided 
them, the convulsions in the corresponding muscle ceased, as 
the pupil of the eye ceases to contract when the third pair 



SYMPATHY AND ANTIPATHY. 41 

have been divided, although light is made to glare upon the 
optic nerve. It should be borne in mind, however, that great 
uncertainty must necessarily attend deductions made from re- 
sults produced by such mutilations of the living body. For, 
in the very nature of things, it must be next to impossible for 
us ever to know precisely, when the parts are injured in this 
manner, just how far the sufferings of one organ may extend 
to others, in different parts of the system. 

3. Physical sympathy does not depend upon continu- 
ity OF SURFACE, OR THE CONTIGUITY OF THE PARTS AFFECT- 
ED- BY IT. 

It is well known, that vomiting may arise from a blow on 
the head, disgust, sailing, pregnancy, or a stone in the kid- 
ney. The effects of the blisters, detailed in the preceding 
chapter, put this fact beyond all doubt. For, what connection 
could be traced through the scalp to the dura mater ? And 
hence it must follow, that if the laws of sympathy, or that 
susceptibility of the system in which they have their founda- 
tion, or on which they operate, maybe acted on or controlled 
by the touch of the human hand, we may see, at once, how it 
is, that the states of the system may be changed from wake- 
fulness to sleep, and vice versa, by mere manipulation. 

We are, certainly, not able to trace any nervous connection 
between the organs of mirth, and the muscles of the mouth 
concerned in the act of laughing. And yet, who doubts, but 
that the act of laughing is produced by sympathy with the 
mental organs ? And so of the organs of self esteem, and sad- 
ness, or grief. These, and many others, when excited, either 
naturally or artificially, operate upon the muscles of the face 
by sympathy; and yet, we are not able to trace any nervous 
connection between the organs, and the portions of the face, 
corresponding in which these emotions are shown, when the 
organs are excited. In the last stages of pulmonary consump- 
tion, we see the hectic blush in a particular place in the face, 
thus demonstrating that, between the lungs and those points 
in the face, the vital forces have established a sympathetic 
connection, as if to give notice by a visible sign of the suffer- 
ing condition of the lungs within. In this case there is svm- 

Dl 



&2 PATHETISM. 

pathy without any continuity of surface, or any direct connec- 
tion by the motor and sensitive nerves. Hence we arrive at 
the following conclusions. 

4. That a portion of the nervous substance, inclu- 
ding, IT MAY BE, THE GANGLIONIC SYSTEM, IS DEVOTED, EX- 
CLUSIVELY, TO SYMPATHETIC FUNCTIONS. 

It would transcend my limits to enter upon an examination 
of the physiology of the nervous system in all its parts, I 
must therefore content myself with a mere statement of those 
conclusions which are legitimately authorised by the few an- 
atomical examinations, and pathological observations, which 
seem to be directly connected with this view of the subject. 

(1.) The nerves of sensation and motion cannot, in all ca- 
ses, convey sympathy, because, we know that sympathy does 
often occur independently of sensation or motion. Nor is this 
all ; some sympathising parts have no susceptibility at all. It 
may be objected that all vascular parts acquire sensibility un- 
der inflammation. But in saying this, the objector overlooks 
the fact, that there is no inflammation without sympathy. In- 
flammation is, in all cases, the effects of sympathetic laws. 

These sympathetic or antipathetic influences are what Dr, 
M. Hall and others have denominated the " morbid and re- 
jlex actions of the spinal marrow." This distinguished anat- 
omist, by a long series of experiments and observations, thinks 
he has proved, that these " inflex actions do not depend upon 
sensation or volition, but upon some other principle of the an- 
imal economy ; the only known principle which remained, 
and which could be the probable agent in these actions, was 
the vis nervosa." The following are his conclusions. The 
term sympathetic, or antipathetic action, might be substituted 
for the term " inflex," in these conclusions, and the idea would 
be as well, and perhaps better expressed : 

1. It is proved by the series of facts which have been ob- 
served in the human subject, that the excito-motory reflex ac- 
tions are independent of sensation and volition, however they 
may be accompanied by sensation, or influenced by volition, 
in the perfect animal. 

2. It is proved as a consequence, that the reflex actions are 
dependent on another principle of the nervous system; and it 



SYMPATHY AND ANTIPATHY. 43 

is proved by a series of experiments, that this principle is the 
vis nervosa of Haller, acting according to a new reflex law. 

3. The phenomena of the excito-motory reflex actions are 
obvious in cases of paralysis, in proportion as that paralysis 
is more complete; they are therefore, more observable in par- 
aplegia, than in hemplegia, in general, but in each of these 
according to their intensity ; they are therefore not only inde- 
pendent of sensation and volition, but inversely as these, fre- 
quently disappearing as these return. 

4. In accidents, as in experiments, the excited reflex ac- 
tions are not immediately observed, but are manifested only 
after the lapse of certain intervals of time; it is plain, there- 
fore, that the first influence of the shock is to diminish the ex- 
cito-motory power ; and this may remain until the patient falls 
a prey to the accident ; as in the case noticed in Dr. W. 
Budd's paper. 

5. It is observed that at a subsequent period, in more fa- 
vorable cases, the excito-motory power is not only restored to 
its normal condition, but morbidly augmented. 

6. This is especially observed in certain diseases, as teta- 
nus, the effects of strychnine. &c. 

7. The reflex arcs of the nervous system will be imperfect 
in cases of disease or injury of the lumbar or other regions, as 
in the case noticed in Dr. W. Budd's paper, and the reflex ac- 
tions will consequently be absent; a fact which affords in its- 
turn an important source of diagnosis, as to the seat of the 
disease. 

8. In certain cerebral affections attended by coma, the pres- 
ence or absence of reflex actions, in the eyelids especially, 
gives us an index of the degree of severity of disease. 

9. Certain diseases, as hydrophobia, epilepsy, hysteria, and 
certain remedies, as strychnine, cantharides, &c, not only in- 
duce augmented excitability, but manifest their effects pre- 
cisely upon the organs which are, physiologically, under the 
influence and dominion of the excito-motory power. 

10. There are new forms of disease of the true spinal func- 
tions, not hitherto described; such as the disphagia, the pecu- 
culiar action of the rectum, &c. which have been briefly no- 
ticed. 

11. Certain parts, as the sides of the thorax, the soles of 
the feet, &c, are more susceptible of the excitement in ques- 
tion than others. 

12. Dr. W. Budd has very justly observed, that in main- 
cases of violent reflex and even convulsive actions, there was 
no sense of fatigue, and little emaciation of the muscles. In 
fact, fatigue is a cerebral state, and cannot be expected to oc- 
cur in the cases in which the reflex actions are most observ- 



44 PATHETISM, 

ed ; and emaciation is most obvious in spinal paralysis, in 
which the reflex arcs being interrupted, the reflex actions are 
also precluded from taking place. Fatigue is felt severely af- 
ter violent attacks of epilepsy and other spasmodic diseases, 
in which the cerebral functions are afterwards restored. — 
Med. Chir. Rev. Jan. 1841. 

The reader will readily perceive, how exactly the foregoing 
conclusions agree with the sympathetic phenomena, peculiar 
to the results produced by pathetism. 

Nor can I see why these laws should not satisfactorily ac- 
count for the following fact, stated in Dupuytren's lectures, 
where he says : 

" It is of almost constant occurrence, that diseases of the up- 
per part of the thigh are felt, so to speak, at the knee ; and 
also, that those of the upper part of the humerus are felt at 
the elbow. 

" It is a curious circumstance, that in certain individuals 
after lithotomy, or other great operations, an abscess is apt to 
be formed in the calf of the leg. We cannot form any idea 
how this should be, but so it is. 

" Generally, in affections of the brain, the effects of purga- 
tives on the bowels, are much less powerful than usual ; for 
example, five or six grains of tartar emetic, and several oun- 
ces of Epsom salts, will not often produce either vomiting or 
purging. In these cases, the oleagenous purgatives, such as 
castor or croton oil, succeed best. 

" Extensive and severe burns are almost always followed by 
constipation." 

• (2.) There is no sensation independently of the brain. # But 
sympathies may, and do exist, independently of that organ. — 
Various portions of the system may be made to sympathise 
with the influence of pathetism, when the brain is not affect, 
ed at all; and we have seen, that foetuses have been born 
alive without any brain. Communications of nerves exist 
without any connection with the brain. And if the phenom- 
ena, common to a state of sympathy, be admitted, no fact 
could be more clearly demonstrated, than that sympathy may, 
and does exist independently of sensation, and sometimes in- 
dependently of the brain. I have seen hundreds of cases, 

* Or without the medulla oblongata. 



SYMPATHY AND ANTIPATHY. 4£> 

where sympathy has been manifested in the highest degrees, 
when at the same time, there was no evidence of sensation 
whatever. 

We have also seen that disease has been cured by sympa- 
thy ; that is, cures of a most extraordinary kind have been ef- 
fected, which could not be traced to any other known laws. — 
And, the same may be said of the cause of disease. Every 
physician knows, not only that every part of the system may 
suffer from sympathy, but that diseases are sometimes caused 
by this agency, alone. For a few specimens of this kind, see 
the American Journal of Medical Science for October, 1841. 
in which a number of cases are stated by Dr. Zabriskie, dem- 
onstrating the existence of " sympathetic paralyses " Six ca- 
ses are enumerated, at length, and from them, the Dr. gives 
the following reasons for believing that paralysis was sympa- 
thetic of enteritis, when the encephalo-spinal system was not 
affected at all : — 

"1. The inflammation always precedes the paralysis, and 
often for some time. 

" This took place in Dr. WaddeFs case and in all the cases of 
Mr. Abernethy, and in all the cases observed by myself. 

"2. From the absence of all morbid appearances on dis- 
section, the nervous apparatus appearing sound. 

" 3. From the inability of all remedies applied to the spine,, 
to the brain, or to the general nervous system. 

" 5. The remedies which gave the most relief, were those 
which relieved the inflammatory systems." 

Cases in support of the above conclusions might be quoted 
in great numbers, if it were at all necessary. 

(3.) All that is known of the anatomy and functions of th t 
ganglia, confirms the assumption as to their exclusive sympath - 
etic functions. That communications are made from different 
parts of the system, without particular reference to the ence- 
phalo-spinal mass, is as certain, as that the mind takes no 
cognizance of the processes constantly going on in the animal 
economy, and there can be no room for doubt, but these im- 
perceptible sympathetic influences are carried on by the gang- 
lionic nerves ; which may serve as so many little brains, as 
it were, distributed throughout the system for the reception. 



46 PATHETI3M. 

and transmission of sympathetic influences, the same as the 
encephalon, receives impressions from the nerves of sensation, 
and transmits, perhaps, through this medium, the motive pow- 
er to the different parts of the system. 

The vital functions depend much more upon the ganglionic 
system, than upon the brain or spinal nerves. Foetuses have 
been born without any brain or spinal chord ; but in these cases, 
the ganglions were perfectly developed. Lobstein relates the 
cases of six foetuses born with absent brain, and other organs, 
in each of which the ganglionic system was perfect, and even 
unusually large.* And Dr. Cayre relates the cases of nine 
idiots dissected by him, in which the encephalo-spinal sys- 
tem was wasted or diseased, while the ganglionic was per- 
fectly healthy. From these facts, it follows, as will more ful- 
ly appear hereafter, that breathing, and, in fact, all the animal 
functions, have been carried on without a brain, but never, so 
far as is known, without the ganglionic nerves. The func- 
tions of the heart have never been performed without its gang- 
lia, so that the cardiac ganglia, as the heart is the first or- 
gan that comes into action, is the first process towards the 
formation of a nervous system. But this assumption would 
seem to be more fully confirmed by a recent discovery made 
by Dr. Remak, of Berlin, who has elicited the following 
facts : 

" The nervous substance is contained in tubes. The 
tubes enclosing the medullary matter of the sensitive nerves are 
exceedingly thin and transparent, while those surrounding the 
substance of the motor nerves are much more resisting and 
dense ; to which latter condition the greater whiteness and 
opacity of those nerves appears to be owing. It is well known, 
that nervous filaments from the cerebro-spinal system go to 
join the ganglia of the sympathetic system ; but according to 
the researches of Dr. Ramak, they only traverse the ganglia 
without forming, with them, any more intimate connection, 
as was formerly supposed. The nervous matter of the sym- 
pathetic system is distinguished by its peculiar reddish tint, but 
the nerves given off by the sympathetic ganglia, carry both 
reddish and white (cerebro-spinal) matter; the latter, howev- 
er, exists in the least quantity in the nerves going to the or- 
gans removed from the agency of the will, as the liver, spleen, 
&c. But, in nearly every bundle of nervous matter, it 

* London Lancet for Nov. 19, 1842. 



SYMPATHY AND ANTIPATHY. 4-7 

would seem, that motor, sensitive, and sympathetic filaments 
are present. Two kinds of functions are well established to 
belong to the cerebro-spinal nervous system, a perception of 
sensation and a motive power; and Dr. Remak supposes a dou- 
ble function of a similar kind to belong to the sympathetic sys- 
tem, thus rendering necessary the existence of a double sen- 
serium commune, in the same living being, one of organic or 
vegetative, and the other of (so called) animal life."* 

Here, then, we find the foundation of those susceptibilities, 
described in a preceding chapter. The ganglia and sympa- 
thetic nerves, form the union between mind and ^natter. They 
constitute the medium through which the mind operates, both 
upon its own organs, and upon the mind, or organs of others ; 
and also, by which one part of the same system, influences, 
sympathetically, another part. They are the connecting link 
between the mind and the nerves of motion and sensation, 
and through which the functions of all the other nerves may 
be controlled, or suspended, or transposed from one organ to 
another, in the same body, or transferred from one system to 
another, as in somnipathy and the phenomena common to that 
state. 

5 TWO SEPARATE LIVING BODIES ARE SOMETIMES GOVERNED 
BY THE SAME SYMPATHETIC LAWS. 

Many cases are on record, of two persons, having such an 
identity of life, that the health of both, and indeed, their men- 
tal exercises, have been affected in precisely the same way, 
even when they were not in the same place. A reputable 
physician of this city informs me that he is well acquainted 
with two twin sisters, who were affected in this way. One 
was always sick precisely at the same time with the other, 
though some twenty miles apart. One was married ; and 
having arrived at the full period of gestation without the know- 
ledge of the other, the single sister, was taken with slight la- 
bor pains, at the very time they commenced with the other 
sister. The following case was communicated to the Royal 
Academy of Medicine, by M. Cagentre, in 1S24. 

" Twin brothers were affected, precisely alike, for a number 
of years, Whatever indisposition one suffered, was suffered 

* Pe Nervo Sympathctico, p. 25. 



48 PATHETISM* 

by the other at the same time. Derangement of the alimentary 
canal, intestinal worms, fee, always made their appearance, in 
both, exactly at one and the same moment^ and the symptoms 
in both were of equal intensity. Dr. Nourel carefully watched 
them, after their return from a fifteen month's stay in the coun- 
ry, and verified the observations of the nurses. He found that 
quotidian intermittent fever commenced and terminated on 
the same day in both ; both had acute conjunctivities together, 
and also colic, which lasted in each for twenty-four hours. — 
Two molar teeth made their appearance in each, at the same 
time. These things took place in 1831. In 1832 they had 
different eruptions, but both suffered contemporaneously. In 
the winter both had bronchitis together. In 1833, they were 
attacked with measles, and after these, with scarlet fever; in 
these diseases each twin had symptoms precisely similar to 
the other, and the commencement and termination, in both, 
were at precisely the same period. In 1834 they had ear 
ache and intermitting fever together; and also vesicular erup- 
tion on the back of the neck. But their dispositions were en- 
tirely opposite ; one was thin and lively, the other robust and 
indolent." 

It is an old observation, that two persons are often known 
to have similar affections, at the same time, or where the 
sympathy is said to be so strong between them, that the sick- 
ness of one necessarily affects the other. But in the above 
remarkable case, it will be seen, the affection of one was not 
caused by sympathy with the other, but, the same cause op- 
erated on both, precisely alike, at one and the same time, 
through a number of years.* 

* The same sympathetic laws are supposed to govern animals. The 
charm of serpents has heen proverbial from immemorial time. A 
case in illustration of this law, is given in the New York Sun, for April 
6, 1843. 

Some years since, a gentleman, by the name of A. W. was travelling 
in Mississippi, and found in the road side a rattle-snake. The road 
was narrow, and it is impossible to say that the snake was on the right 

hand. Mr. W dismounted, and procured a stick to kill the snake, 

struck it a blow, so as to disable it, and to his astonishment, heard a 
partridge flutter on the left hand side of the road at the instant the blow 
was inflicted on the snake. The partridge was eight or ten feet from 
the snake, and he immediately went to it and picked it up, intending to 
secure it first and then despatch the serpent. He recollected, however, 
having heard that the charm of the bird was communicable, by contact 
with it to any other living animal, and deposited it in the place whence 
he had taken it, and resumed his ' labors of love 7 on the * charmer.' To 
his great astonishment, he observed that every blow on the snake, 
seemed to tell on the partridge, which fluttered at every one : and as 



SYMPATHY AND ANTIPATHY. 49 

Facts in abundance are at command, from which it would 
seem, that the same laws sometimes operate upon two differ- 
ent minds, even when at a great distance apart. A case of 
this kind is given by Dr. Abercrorabie, where a mother and 
her son, a hundred miles apart, had precisely the same dream, 
at the same hour of the same night. The son was the Rev. 
J. Wilkins, dissenting minister at Weymouth, England, and 
the particulars of his dream are thus stated by himself: 

M One night, soon after I was in bed, I fell asleep, and 
dreamed I was going to London. I thought it would not be 
much out of my way to go through Gloucestershire, and call 
upon my friends there. Accordingly I set out, but remem- 
bered nothing that happened on' the way, till I came to my 
father's house, when I went to the front door, and tried -to 
open it, but found it -fast. I then went to the back door, 
which I opened, and went in ; but finding all the family were 
in bed, I went across the rooms only, went up stairs, and en- 
tered the chamber where my father and mother were in bed. 
As I went that side of the bed in which my father lay, I found 
him asleep, or thought he was so; then I went to the other 
side, and just turned the foot of the bed. I found my mother 
awake, to whom I said these words, 'Mother, I am going a 
long journey, and I am come to bid you good-bye.' Upon 
which she answered me in a fright, ■ dear son, thou art 
dead !' With this I awoke, and took no notice of it, more 
than a common dream, only it appeared to me very perfect, 
as some dreams will. But in a few days after, as soon as a 
letter could reach me, I received one by post from my father, 
upon the receipt of which I was a little surprised, and con- 
cluded something extraordinary must have happened, as it 

the. work of death progressed with the snake, it seemed to proceed pari 
passu with the bird. When the snake writhed, the bird fluttered, and 
when the snake was dead, the bird absolutely fell on its side, made 
sundry gapes and expired. 

The following is from the Philadelphia Public Ledger: — A gentlc- 
manof great respectability in St. Croix, showed me a hen's egg which 
has on it, in relief, the figure of a goose. The annexed is a sketch of 
the figure, taken in my presence, and the following is his account of the 
case : 

The circumstances connected with this phenomenon may not be un- 
worthy of notice. There was only one fine white goose on the place, 
which constantly associated with the other iowls of the yard. Having 
no other companion, he frequently seated himself in the yard, among 
the rest of the fowls, precisely in the posture of the 6gure in the egg, 
which egc: was laid by one of'the hens constantly in company with the 
goose. The feathers on the body of the goose were in rather a rough 
state, but the neck was covered with down and no leathers. 
E 



50 PATHJETISM. 

was but a little before I had a letter from my friends, and all 
were well. Upon opening it, I was more surprised still, for 
my father addressed me as though I was dead, desiring me, 
if alive, to write immediately; but if the letter should find 
me living, they concluded. I should not live long, and gave 
this as the reason of their fears: — That on such a night, nam- 
ing it, after they were in bed, my father asleep, and my 
mother awake, she heard some one try to open the front door ; 
but finding it fast, he went to the back door, which he open- 
ed, came in, and came directly through the rooms up stairs, 
and she perfectly knew it to be my step. I came to her bed- 
side, and spoke to her these words, 4 Mother, I am going a 
long journey, and am come to bid you good-bye; upon which 
she answered me in a fright, *' dear son, thou art dead !' 
which were the very words and circumstances of my dream ; 
but she heard nothing more, and saw nothing; neither did I 
in my dream, as it was quite dark. Upon this she awoke 
my father, and told him what had passed ; but he endeavour- 
ed to appease her, by persuading her if was only a dream ; 
she insisted it was no dream, for that she was as perfectly 
awake as ever she was, and had riot the least inclination to 
sleep since she had been in bed. From these circumstances 
I am apt to think it was the very same instant when my 
dream happened, though the distance between us was a hun- 
dred miles; but of this I cannot speak positively. This oc- 
curred whilst I was at the academy at Ottery, Devon, in the 
year 1754, and at this distance of time it is still fresh upon 
my mind. I have since had frequent opportunities of talking 
over the affair with my mother, and the whole was as fresh 
upon her mind as it was upon mine. I have often thought 
that her sensations as to this matter were stronger than mine. 
What some may think strange, I cannot remember that any 
thing remarkable happened hereupon. This is only a plain 
simple narrative of a matter of fact. 5 ' 

Almost any person, indeed, would be very apt to suspect, 
that a dream so very remarkable as this seemed to be, was a 
prognostication of something extraordinary, but the sequel 
proved, that nothing out of the common course of events hap- 
pened to either of the parties; for Mr. Wilkins lived nearly 
fifty years afterwards, and died a natural death. 

4. What we know of sympathy and antipathy is re- 
solvable INTO THE LAWS WHICH AFFECT BOTH THE BODY AND 
THE MIND, AND ITS INFLUENCE MAY BE EXTENDED FROM ONE 
PERSON TO ANOTHER. 



SYMPATHY AND ANTIPATHY. 51 

Every Phrenologist knows, that the exercise of one i 
by one person, "will excite the same organ in another. Thu :. 
for instance, combativeness frill excite combativeness, mirth- 
fulness will excite mirth fulness, and so of the other organs. 
This is according to a law of the human mind which explains 
the aptitude of minds, in society, to assume a common train 
of thought or feeling, grave or gay, as if by contagion. 

We could not, of course, find room for any considerable por- 
tion of the facts there are at command, elucidating this pari 
of our subject, but the following, it is believed, will besufli- 
cient to bring it sufficiently before the mind of the reader: 

'•In a poor house at Harlem, under the inspection of the 
learned Dr. Boerhaave, a girl, under an impression of terror, 
fell into a convulsive disease, which returned in regular par- 
oxysms. An interested by-slander witnessing her, was seized 
with a similar fit, which also recurred at intervals. On the 
day following, another was attacked; then a third, and a 
fourth; a ad finally, nearly the whole of the children, botli 
girls and boys, came to be affected in the same manner. — 
No sooner was one seized than the paroxysms pervaded near- 
ly all the company." 

Here were the effects of sympathy; but the remedy, per- 
haps, would be denominated antipathy. 

The account proceeds: 

"Every remedy was prescribed by attending physicians 
which their skill could suggest, but all in vain. They then 
applied to Dr. Boerhaave to come and examine the nature of 
this complaint, and to prescribe a remedy if possible. The 
learned doctor immediately observed that the disease was 
communicated from one to another by sight ; and he inferred 
that it was the effect of the imagination solely, and that he 
must apply his means to the minds of ihese children, rather 
than to their bodies. He resolved, therefore, on the experi- 
ment of diverting their minds from those paroxysms by ren- 
dering a fit extremely hazardous. Having apprised the ma- 
gistral e of his design, he ordered in presence of all the chil- 
dren, that several portable furnaces should be placed in diffi 
cut parts of the chamber, containing burning coals, and that 
irons, bent to a certain form, should be placed in the fur- 
naces. He then gave these further commands:— that all me- 
dicine would be entirely useless, and the only remedy with 
which he was acquainted was, that the first which should be 
seized with a lit, whether. bov or girl, must be burnt in t] 



52 PATHETISM. 

arm, to the very bone, by a red-hot iron. He spoke this with 
uncommon dignity and gravity, and it was completely suc- 
cessful. The idea of burning in case of a fit, was enough to 
enable them to counteract the tendency of their minds to fits, 
or these spasmodic affections, and the complaint occurred not 
again." Rees* Cyc. vol. 19, part 2, Art. Imitation. 

Most of our readers have, probably, heard, or read, of the 
strange occurrences which took place in Kentucky and Ten- 
nessee, some forty years ago, during what was denominated 
the Great Revival there. A particular account of them is 
given in Lorenzo Dow's Journal, and in the Ed. Med. and 
Surg. Jour. vol. 3. p. 446 ; and also by many others, which 
may be seen quoted in Powers' " Essay on the Influence of the 
Imagination over the Nervous System." The following ac- 
count is from Dr. F. Robinson, of Tenn.: 

"The churches in these states, at that period (1800), were 
small and uncomfortable, and the people from necessity as- 
sembled in the open field at extraordinary meetings. These 
meetings lasted from three to five days. They remained up- 
on the spot day and night, and worshipped their Maker inces- 
santly. The outward expression of their worship consisted 
chiefly in alternate crying, laughing, singing and shouting; 
and at the same time, performing that great variety of gestic- 
ulation, which the muscular system is capable of producing. 
It was under these circumstances that some found themselves 
unable, by voluntary efforts, to suppress the contraction of 
their muscles; and to their own astonishment, and the diver- 
sion of many of the spectators, they continued to act from ne- 
cessity, the curious character which they had commenced 
from choice. The disease no sooner appeared, than it spread 
with rapidity through the medium of imitation. Thus it was 
not uncommon, for an affected person to communicate it to a 
greater part of a crowd, who from curiosity or other motives, 
had collected around him. It attacks both sexes, and every 
constitution ; but evidently, more readily those who are en- 
thusiasts in religion. The contractions are sudden and vio- 
lent, such as are denominated convulsive; being sometimes 
so powerful, when in the muscles of the back, that the pa- 
tient is thrown on the ground, where for some time, his mo- 
tions more resemble those of a live fish, when thrown on land, 
than any thing else to which I can compare them. During 
the intermission, a paroxysm is often excited at the sight of a 
person affected, but more frequently by the common salute of 
shaking hands. The sensations of the patient in a paroxysm 
are generally agreeable, which th£ enthusiastic class often ea- 



SYMPATHY AND ANTIPATHY. 53 

deavor to express by laughing, shouting, dancing, &c. Fa- 
tigue is almost always complained of after violent paroxysms; 
and sometimes a general soreness is experienced. It has not 
proved mortal in a single instance within my knowledge, but 
becomes lighter by degrees, and finally disappears." The 
author adds by a subjoined note, — " some who took the dis- 
ease in 1803, have not yet (1S05) entirely got rid of it; but 
these instances of its long continuance, are very few." 

These convulsions were commonly called " the jerks." — 
Another writer (McNeman), quoted by Mr. Powers, gives the 
following account of them : 

"At first appearance, these meetings exhibited nothfng to 
the spectator, but a scene of confusion, that could scarcely be 
put into human language. They were generally opened with 
a sermon ; near the close of which, there would be an unusual 
outcry ; some burs:ing forth into loud ejaculations of prayer or 
thanksgiving for the truth; others flying to their careless 
friends, with tears of compassion, beseeching them to turn to 
the Lord. Some, struck with terror, and hastening through 
the crowd to make their escape, or pulling away their rela- 
tions; — others trembling, weeping, and crying out for the 
Lord Jesus to have mercy upon them, fainting and swooning 
away, till every appearance of life was orone, and the extrem- 
ities of the body assumed the coldness of a dead corpse. Oth- 
ers surrounding them with melodious songs, or fervent prayers 
for their happy resurrection in the love of Christ. 

" The rolling exercise consisted in beingr cast down in a 
violent manner, doubled with the head and feet together, and 
rolled over and over like a wheel, or stretched in a prostrate 
manner turned swiftly over like a dog. They were some- 
times driven in this manner through the mud, and were sul- 
lied from head to foot. Nothing id nature could belter rep- 
resent the jerks, than for one to goad ano:her alternately on 
every side with a piece of red hot iron. The exercise com- 
monly began in the head, which would fly backward and for- 
ward, and from side to side, with a quick jolt, which the per- 
son would naturally labor to suppress, but in vain. He must 
necessarily go as he was stimulated, whether with a violent 
dash on the ground, and bounce from place to place like a 
foot-ball, or hop round, with head, limbs and trunk twitching 
and jolting in every direction, as if they must inevitably fly 
asunder. Sometimes the head would be twitched right and 
left, to a half round, with such velocity, that not a feature 
could be discovered, but the face appear as much behind as 
before. Head-dresses were of little account among the fe- 
male jerkers. Even handkerchiefs bound tight round the 

El 



54 PATHETISM. 

head, would be flirted off almost with the first twitch, and 
the hair put into the utmost confusion ; this was a great in- 
convenience, to redress which, the generality were shorn, 
though directly contrary to their confession of faith. The 
larks consisted in being compelled to imitate the canine ani- 
mal; and persons thus affected moved about on all fours, 
growling and snapping the teeth, and barking in so persona- 
ting a manner, as to set the eyes and the ears of the specta- 
tor at variance. These persons, however, were the most gift- 
ed in prophecies, in trances, dreams, visions, fragrant smells, 
and delightful singing in the breast. Some were favored 
with an interview with their departed friends, and learned 
their 'different allotments in the invisible world \ some saw the 
holy city, and heard the songs of the angelic hosts, others, in 
their visions were employed in crossing rivers, climbing moun- 
tains, finding treasures, fighting serpents, or more delightfully 
employed in eating the fruits of the tree of life, bathing in 
clear water, casting off old garments and putting on new." 

The following account of these singular occurrences is from 
Dow's Journal, before referred to. In the year 1805, he 
preached in Knoxville, Tenn. before the governor, when 
about one hundred and fifty persons, (among whom were a 
number of Quakers) had the jerks. He adds: 

"I have seen all denominations of religion exercised by the 
jerks, gentleman and lady, black and white, young and old, 
without exception. I passed a meeting house, where I ob- 
served the undergrowth had been cut away for a camp meet- 
ing, and from fifty to a hundred saplings were left, breast-high, 
on purpose for the people who were jerked to hold by. I ob- 
served where they had held on, they had kicked up the earth 
as a horse stamping flies, A Presbyterian minister told me, 
while he was preaching the day before, some had ihe jerks. 
I believe it does not. affect those naturalists, who wish to try 
to get it to philosophise upon it; — and rarely those who are 
the most pious; but the luke-warm, lazy professor, is subject 
to it. The wicked fear it, and are subject to it, but the per- 
secutors are more subject to it than any; and they sometimes 
have cursed and swore, and damned it while jerking." 

Mr. Powers details the particulars of a family in Chelms- 
ford, Mass. where one of the children was affected with chorea, 
and five others exercised themselves with imitating his odd 
gestures until every one of them were irresistibly affected in 
the same way. And the spell was not broken until the father 
one day, brought a block and axe, and sternly threatened to 



SYMPATHY AND ANTIPATHY. 55 

take off the head of the first child who should exhibit any 
more of those singular gestures. 

Dr. Haygarth gives a similar account of the effects of sym- 
pathy, which took place in 179G among some peasants in the 
Island of Anglesey. It commenced with one female, and in 
a short time extended to some twenty others. And a similar 
account may be found in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical 
Journal, vol. 3, p. 438, given by the Rev. Mr. Archibald, of 
Unst. He says, at first, the affection commenced with a fe- 
male; but, on her manifesting the affection at church, it was 
immediately communicated to others. And, in another par- 
ish, some sixty persons were seized in the same way ; and be- 
ing carried out and laid in the yard, they would struggle and 
roar with all their might, for five or ten minutes, and then 
rise up, without remembering any thing that had happened 
to them. 

. Affections of the same kind prevailed among the Anabap- 
tists in Germany, and the French Prophets in Dauphiny, and 
in England; and after them the Quakers, and also among 
the Puritans of New England, in 1745, and more recently 
among the Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians; and especi- 
ally, among the Mormons. Nor are these affections confined 
to Protestant sects; they have been equally prevalent among 
the Papists, and, indeed, among those, as we have before 
seen, who are not religiously disposed. I have been inform- 
ed, of similar affections among the Mahometans. A gentle- 
man who has been among them during seasons of prayer, 
states, that for some time, he had seen some of them con- 
vulsed, and they would emit a kind of froth at their mouth. — 
Those less favored, would take this foam from the mouths of 
their companions, and by rubbing it upon their own bodies 
would thus excite a similar state of feeling and action in 
themselves. 

That the affections above described, were communicated 
by the laws of sympathy, there can be no doubt. And it 
would be equally easy to show, that many diseases deem- 
ed contagious, have been communicated in the same way. 
The history of the Asiatic Cholera, would as plainly demon- 



56 PATHETISM. 

strate the truth of this position, as it would prove, that any 
such disease ever existed. And the same might be said of 
other diseases, and affections, both mental and physical, 
which are frequently known to gain upon individuals, fami- 
lies, neighborhoods, and generally whole districts of country. 
Sometimes, an enormous crime will be committed ; and its 
flagrancy excites a kind of susceptibility in the mind of an- 
other, and another, until it has been followed by a dozen or 
more of the same kind. 

The same sympathetic panic often seizes upon large as- 
semblies of people. A word or a hint from one individual 
communicates a shock through the whole. In this way mobs 
are frequently stimulated to ungovernable fury, and soldiers, 
in the day of battle, rush on in the face of death ; or panic 
struck, the fear spreads from one to thousands, and those who 
but a moment before, were ready to brave the cannon's mouth, 
are now trembling with fear, and find it impossible to summon 
either courage or self-possession. At other times, a word, or 
look from some master spirit, electrifies the mass around him, 
and from one to another the impulse communicates a feeling 
of heroism and intrepidity, which increases as it spreads, till 
the entire mass are impatient to throw their lives away in the 
whirlwind of their ambition. 

If one person is said to see & ghost, it not unfrequently 
happens that a sensibility is awakened in the minds of many 
others, till the infection has spread, and ghosts are multiplied 
in proportion to the susceptibility of the people, who happen 
to hear the strange details of the departed spirits. So, if one 
in a family, or neighborhood, happens to have a singular 
dream, it is followed with others of the same kind. In a 
word, whatever is related to the strange or marvellous, what- 
ever is calculated to excite credulity or fear, operates by sym- 
pathy, and in this way we may easily account for the preva- 
lence of many crimes, and the various forms of witchcraft 
and delusion which have, from time to time, so much dis- 
turbed and cursed the world. 

I know, indeed, that many pious people, attribute some of 
the exercises I have described to the powerful influence of the 
Holy Spirit. That many persons affected in these ways, are 



SYMPATHY AND ANTirATHY. 57 

pious, sincere christians, there can he no doubt. But a know- 
ledge of the susceptibility of which I have spoken, and the 
nature of the human mind, would leave us little doubt, that 
these things may be rationally accounted for in some other 
way. 

I have seen persons "lose their strength, " as it is called, 
at camp meetings, and other places of great religious excite- 
ment ; not pious people alone, but those also, who were not 
professors of religion. In the spring of 1824, while perform- 
ing pastoral labor, in Dennis, Mass., I saw more than twenty 
men affected in this way/ Two young men of the name of 
Crowel came one day to a prayer meeting. They were quite 
indifferent. I conversed with them freely, but they showed 
no signs of penitence. From the meeting they went to their 
(shoemaker's) shop to finish some work, before going to the 
meeting in the evening, i On seating themselves, they were 
both struck perfectly stiff, as if paralyzed by catalepsey. — 
1 was immediately sent for, and found them sitting, paralyzed, 
on their benches, with their work in their" hands, unable to 
sit up, or to move at all ! And I have seen scores of persons 
affected in the same way. 

I have, by pathetism, thrown numbers of persons into a 
state precisely similar to that, in which they are said to " lose 
their strength" under religious excitement. They, themselves, 
declare, that the two states are exactly alike, nor is there any 
reason for supposing that there is any material difference be* 
tween them. 



CHAPTER Y 



RELATION. 



We have seen that sympathy and antipathy, in the humatf 
system, depends upon the Relation subsisting between two 
organs. That is, there can be no sympathy, without two 
persons, things or parts ; and between which there must be 
some connection established. If the brain is affected by the 
stomach, or vice versa, it is because they sustain a peculiar re- 
lation to each other, and so of every effect which comes to 
pass, throughout universal nature. Two things must not only 
exist, before the third is produced, but there must be a rela- 
tion brought about between them ; for, without this, there 
can be no cause, no effect of any kind. Some results may re- 
quire more than two things to be combined, but it is a fact so 
well known, that no effect of any kind, can be produced with 5 
out a relation first established between an agent and a sub- 
stance to be acted upon, that we need not stop here, to argue 
this point. It is one of those self-evident truths, which every- 
where first meets the opening senses of the human mind, and 
therefore is no more susceptible of proof than one's own con- 
sciousness of thinking, speaking, or acting. It will be suffi- 
cient, therefore, if I merely, in this connection, add, what may 
be necessary to show how this first law of nature applies to 
the subject now under consideration. 

1. If you take two pieces of soft, smooth iron, and apply 
them together, you will discover no attraction between them. 
But if you rub one upon the other, lengthwise, in one direc- 
tion, only for a few minutes, you will perceive a mutual at- 
traction between them. Now, we say, this attraction de- 
pends on the relation established between those two pieces of 
iron, by bringing them in contact, in that peculiar manner. — 
For if you merelv rub one upon the other, as in the process of 



RELATION. 59 

filing, no effects of this kind, are produced. So, if you take an 
ordinary iron rod, and hold it horizontally, on applying the 
needle it will not show any signs of polarity ; hut hold the red 
perpendicularly to the earth, and it acquires polarity, so as to 
affect the needle. The reason to be assigned for this, is, that 
in the one case, the rod sustains a relation to the earth from 
which its polarity is derived, which it does not sustain in the 
other. 

Zinc and copper, produce no galvanic effect, till a relation is 
established between them by a suitable fluid. 

So we say of light and heat. No effects are produced by 
the sun until his influence is extended to the earth, and a cer- 
tain relation must be brought about between the earth and 
the sun, before the process of vegetation is commenced; and 
not then, even, unless the sun is brought in contact with earth 
of a certain quality. 

All chemical results come to pass, from relations establish- 
ed between two or more substances; and the effects depend 
always, upon the qualities of the bodies which are brought to- 
gether. 

2. This relation between tivo bodies, which produces any 
positive results, depends upon certain contrarieties in their 
qualities. This law is universal. True, when you bring 
two poles of the same denomination in contact, a result is 
produced, but it is of a negative character: they mutually re- 
pel or destroy each other. But, to bring about a positive re- 
sult, to change the state of one substance or body, it must be 
brought into relation with another of an opposite quality. — 
We have already observed, that nature works by contrarieties. 
Throughout the animal kingdom, we see the species produced 
by the union of male and female, and husbands and wives of 
the same temperament usually, cccteris paribus, will either 
have no issue, or their children, should they have any, will be 
found feeble and short lived. And the law of God, forbid- 
ding the marriage of near relations, is hence seen to be foun- 
ded upon a law of our nature; and thus we may see why it 
is, that the offspring of such marriages are followed by cretin- 
ism, or feeble mental endowments. Mr. Marchant, a physi- 



60 PATHETISM. 

eianand a native of the Pyrenees, says,* that the inhabitants 
of a village in the region of the narrow valleys seldom marry 
with others out of the neighborhood, and that the consequen- 
ces of this custom are so powerful, that mental imbecility is 
quite common, even in the most noble and wealthy fami- 
lies. 

As in the animal, so we find a correspondence in vegetable 
life. The seed, for instance, in the pod, is produced on the 
line which unites two leaves, and the same law governs 
throughout the vegetable kingdom- 

All the changes produced in the human system by medi- 
cine, all the changes produced in any substance, in any way, 
are brought about by establishing a relation between the thing 
acted upon, and the other body brought into relation with it. 
Changes are brought about in the mind by the same means. — 
All our duties to God, and our fellow men, grow out of the rela- 
tions we sustain to him and them. All our feelings of love 
or compassion, or hatred, spring from these relations. And 
so of hope and fear, so of faith, and every emotion of which 
the mind is susceptible, the whole depend on the qualities of 
other persons, and things, between whom and ourselves 
certain relations have been established. And hence we find, 
that in order to produce any change in the human system by 
pathetism, it is always necessary to establish a relation be- 
tween the operator, the process, or the agent, and the patient 
to be acted upon. Nothing is done until this relation has 
been formed, and upon its strength, if I may so speak, will 
depend all the results which follow the process of pathetising 
the human system, or any mental effort exerted over the sys- 
tem of another. 

3. This relation is increased by habit, and sometimes ac- 
quires supreme control over the mind. This fact explains 
how it is, that some persons are made sick by the mere thought 
of an emetic. The mind having become accustomed to the 
effects produced by this drug, the mere sight or thought of it, 
calls up this relation, and the sickness follows. So, when the 
mind becomes habituated to the effects of any other medicine 
* Gazette Des Hopiteaux. 



RELATION. 61 

or any peculiar process for the production of certain results ; 
it is often effected by this relation in the same way. 

Instance the condition of one confirmed in habits of intoxi- 
cation. While the rum-bottle is out of sight, he remains qui- 
et and sober; but on merely seeing the vessel from which he 
has so often quaffed the bewitching liquid, his susceptibility 
is awakened at once, and his desire for it again becomes un- 
governable, till he is carried, it may be against his will, into 
the vortex of destruction. 

What is called the " association of ideas," is attributable to 
this same power. The sight of one object calls up another, 
with which it had become associated. 

The first note of a well-known tune, brings to mind the en- 
tire piece of music. Cases of severe tooth-ache, have often 
been cured by the mere sight of the forceps. Persons injured 
by fright, in cases of fire, or great danger, are sometimes 
alarmed, on hearing similar sounds, or merely seeing any 
place or object which brings the scene again before the mind. 
Some will sink into a state of sleep, by merely sitting in the 
chair where they have been often put to sleep before; and the 
sight of any place, where the mind has been peculiarly im- 
pressed, revives the same feelings, and we live over again the 
scenes which, otherwise, had remained entirely obliterated 
from recollection. 

4. This relation, in some cases, seems to depend, wholly, up- 
on the mental apprehensions of its nature, and the mind trans- 
fers it from one object to another. — That the mind has this 
power, is proved by innumerable facts of the same kind of 
those we have already adduced, in the chapter on suscepti- 
bility. How else did it come to pass, that the opiate given by 
Dr. Gregory, operated according to what the patient thought 
it was, and not according to its real nature ? How else, did 
it come to pass, that Sir W. Ellis' patient was salivated with 
bread pills? Indeed, almost every practitioner of any consid- 
erable experience, will be found able to refer to cases of the 
Bamekind, when the effects of medicine have been just in pro- 
portion to the apprehensions of the patient, and not according 
to their well-known medical properties. 



62 PATHETlSBf, 

What made the criminal die, when he thought himse¥ 
bleeding to death, and not a drop of blood had been drawn 
from his veins? Why, evidently, he had transferred, in his 
mind, to himself, the real danger, from actual bleeding; and 
the consequence was, he did just as he would, had his eyes 
been open, and he had seen the blood issuing from, his own 
arm. Many persons have, unquestionably, died in this way. 
The New Zealanders die under the same power, when cursed 
by the Arcekee. The mind, once fully impressed wilh a con- 
viction of the "unerring certainty of death, the suscep- 
tibility yields beyond the power of recovery, and death follows 
as a matter of course. Some years ago, a lady in this city- 
went to " Old Bones," as he was called, to have her fortune 
told. He told her she would be a corpse before three o'clock 
the next day, and, if she would only go home and look into 
the cistern, she would there see her own coffin. The result 
verified the prediction. On looking into the cistern, with her 
susceptibility excited beyond her control, as of course it would 
be under such circumstances, she saw her coffin, and at the 
appointed hour, laid down and died. And persons may be found 
in all classes of society, who might be killed in the same way, 
indeed, as they no doubt have been, in times past. And the 
history of witchcraft, would afford some of the most striking 
illustrations of this law of the human mind, and most clearly 
show how it is, that the susceptibility becomes affected by the 
mental apprehensions of danger, or infection from some unseen 
or supernatural power* 

Many of the results, which followed the trials made to test 
the reality of Mesmer's assumptions with regard to the " uni- 
versal fluid," have often been referred to for the purpose of 
proving that the whole was a delusion. However, we shall 
find, upon examination, that those results prove the truth of 
pathetism, and demonstrate the reality of the law here laid 
down. Let us notice a few of them, as stated in the lan- 
guage of the opposition. 

The report of the Royal Acadamy of Sciences, of which Dr. 
Franklin was one, is well known. To understand the ac- 
counts given by this committee, of what they saw, it must be 



RELATION. 63 

borne in mind, that Mesmcr was in the habitof operating by 
the means of ropes, trees, glass bottles, &c; and while we al- 
low, that he was both ignorant and avaricious, it is but jus- 
tice to add, also, that the report of the commissioners does not 
seem to evince so much candor, on their part, as we should 
judge necessary for the purposes of a true and impartial ver- 
dict on the subject of their investigations. But, to show that 
all the effects were produced without the agency which was 
assumed by Mesmer and his disciples, the following cases are 
given: — 

"A female servant submitted to the same operation; and 
she affirmed that sbe felt a heat in every part where the mag- 
netised finger was pointed at her; that she experienced a 
pain in her head, and during a continuance of the operation, 
she became faint and swooned. When she had fully recov- 
ered, they ordered her eyes bandaged, and the operator was 
removed at a distance, when they made her believe she was 
still under the operation, and the effects were the same, al- 
though no one operated, either near her, or at a distance- 
She could tell the very place wherein she was magnetised ; 
she felt the same heat particularly about the back and loins, 
and the same pain in her eyes and ears. At the end of one 
quarter of an hour, a sign was made for her to be magnetised, 
but she felt nothing On the following day, a man and a wo- 
man were magnetised in a similar manner, and the result 
was the same. It was found that to direct the imagination 
to those parts where the sensations were to be felt, was all 
that was necessary to produce these wonderful effects. 

" Mesmer and Delson, asserted that they could magnetise a 
tree, and every person approaching the tree in a given time 
would be magnetized, and either fall in a swoon, or in con- 
vulsions, provided the Magnetizer was permitted to stand at 
a distance and direct his look and cane towards the tree. Ac- 
cordingly an apricot tree was selected in Dr. Franklin's gar- 
den at Passy, for the experiment ; and M. Delson came and 
magnetised the tree while the patient was retained in the 
house. The patient was then brought out with a bandage 
over his eyes and successively led to four trees, which were not 
magnetised, and was directed to embrace each tree two min- 
utes, while M. Delson at a distance, stood pointing his cane 
to the tree actually magnetised At the first tree, which 
stood about twenty-seven feet from the magnetised tree, the 
patient sweat profusely, coughed, expectorated, and said he 
ielt a pain in his head. At the second tree, now thirty feet 



64 PATHETISM, 

from the magnetised tree, he found himself giddy, attended 
with headache as before. At the third tree r his giddiness 
and headache were much increased, and he said he believed 
he was approaching the magnetised tree, although he was 
still twenty-eight feet from it. At length, when brought to 
the fourth tree, not magnetised, and at the distance of twenty- 
four feet from that which was, the young man fell down in a 
state of perfect insensibility; his limbs became rigid, and he 
was carried to a grass-plot, where M. Delson went to his as- 
sistance and recovered him; and yet in no instance, had he 
approached within a less distance than twenty-four feet of the 
magnetised tree. 

" A similar experiment was soon after made on two poor 
females at Dr. Franklin's house. These women were separ- 
ated : three of the commissioners with one of them in one 
chamber ; and two of them with the other, in an adjoining 
chamber. The first had a bandage over her eyes, and was 
then made to believe that M. Delson had commenced magne- 
tising her, although he never entered the room. In three 
minutes the woman began to shiver ; she felt, in succession, 
a pain in her head, and in her arms, and a pricking in her 
hands; she became stiff, her hands stuck together, got up and 
stamped, etc. but nothing had been done to her. The woman 
in the adjoining chamber was requested to take her seat by 
the door which was shut, with her sight at liberty, and was 
then made to believe that M. Delson would magnetise the 
door on the opposite side, while the commissioners would 
wait to witness the result. She had scarcely been seat- 
ed a minute before she began to shiver, her breathing soon 
became hurried; she stietched out her arms behind her back, 
writhing them strongly, and bending her body forwards ; a 
general tremor of the whole body came on; the chattering of 
her teeth was so loud as to be heard out of the room ; and 
she bit her hand so as to leave the marks of her teeth in it ; 
but M. Delson was not near the door, nor in either chamber ; 
nor was either of the women touched, not even their pulse 
examined. 

"Dr. Sigualt, an eminent physician of Paris, communicated 
to the commissioners some effects he witnessed upon his mere 
pretence of his being' an adept in the art of Mesmer. Being 
at a great house one day, he caused it to be announced that 
he could magnetise. The voice and serious air he assumed, 
had a sensible effect on a lady present, although she endeav- 
ored to conceal the fact. But having carried his hand to the 
region of the heart, he found it palpitating. She soon experi- 
enced difficulty in respiration ; the muscles of her face were 
affected with convulsive twitches, her eyes rolled; she shortly 



RELATION. 65 

fell down in a fainting fit ; vomited her dinner, purged several 
times, and experienced incredible weakness and languor. He 
further adds, that having met a celebrated artist one day on 
the Pont-Royal, and being informed by him that he had been 
afflicted several days with a severe head-ache, the Doctor 
persuaded him that he was instructed in the mysteries of 
Mesmer, and by means of a few gestures, he almost immedi- 
ately removed the pain, to the astonishment of the artist." 

Now, on examination, it will be found, I think, that these 
accounts, so far from proving any thing against pathetism, 
prove exactly the reverse. Observe: 

1. The persons affected in the manner above described, had 
all heard, more or less, of the effects said to be produced by 
mesmeric operations. In this way their susceptibilities were 
excited, of course, and prepared to be controlled by the appre- 
hensions of the mind. 

2. The relation established in their minds between them- 
selves, and the agencies by which they were supposed to be 
produced, brought about the results above described. Just so, 
if a hungry person fancies he sees an article of food : the sa- 
liva is at once excited, and his "mouth waters," from the as- 
sociation in his mind. But, on inspection, what he thought 
to be a mellow peach, perhaps, proves to be a painted piece 
of stone ! 

I knew a lady who was seized with vomiting, on the arri- 
val of the morning which she had appointed for going on 
board a packet, for a few hours' sail. Long before she entered 
on board, she was completely prostrated with " sea sickness." 
Persons are often exceedingly frightened in the same way. 
They think they see a ghost, which proves, however, to be a 
lamp post. Eut these cases, so far from demonstrating the 
mere ideality of the agency by which we operate on the human 
system, in producing relief from pain, or inducing sleep, by a 
mere process, adopted for this purpose, they go rather to 
prove the reverse, and to show how it is, that the mind creates 
or transfers this relation from one object to another, and ap- 
propriates to itself all the influences which could, in auy case, 
be exerted by contact with physical causes. 

Others have fancied philosophy and science not a little in- 

Fl 



66 PATHETISM. 

debted to themselves, when they have pointed to cases simi- 
lar to the above, and assumed that the effects were produced 
by the imagination. But what the " imagination" is, they 
have not told us. 

The knowledge of this law of the human mind sufficiently 
explains how it is, that sleep follows from certain processes, 
without contact with the patient; and, I humbly conceive, it 
shows the rationale of this mvstery much more satisfactorily 
than the theory of Mr. Baird, of Manchester, England, which 
was published a year or two sinee, and was as follows: 

" The artificial mode of effecting sleep is to fatigue the rec- 
tus and levator muscle of the eye, which is effected by a con- 
tinuously strained and intent gaze at an object viewed under 
an acute angle. Under such circumstances, the irritability of 
chose muscles becomes exhausted, as well as the irritability of 
the optic nerve ; a mist rises up before the eye, and sleep en- 
sues." 

But this amounts to no more than what almost every per- 
son may have observed and felt, when the attention has be- 
come fixed under certain circumstances. Any barber would 
have given as clear an account of cases of somnolency produ- 
ced under the operation of shaving. 

However, " physiology and anatomy" do not furnish us with ' 
sufficient proof for demonstrating this theory, as has been 
supposed. An article may be found in the 18th vol. of the 
Dublin Med. Journal, p. 70, from Mr. G-. Stokes, clearly de- 
monstrating that the closure of the eyelids is not a mere pas- 
sive condition from fatigue, and relaxation of the levator, as 
taught by Bichat, but that muscular agency is employed in its 
accomplishment. An interesting case is there given of para- 
lysis of the portio dura, occasioning lagophthalmos, in which, 
as in similar cases, by no means very uncommon, the upper 
eyelid assumes that position in which the force of gravity, un- 
aided by muscular effort, "would place it. Mr. Stokes consi- 
ders this muscle as a true sphincter, for the reasons that it pre- 
sents all the anatomical and physiological characteristics pe- 
culiar to such muscles, viz. a mixed function — the voluntary 
power being employed during a state of wakefulness, and the 
involuntary during sleep. Aud, further, it does not appear 



RELATION. i 

that this kind of sleep is induced merely by fatiguing the eye- 
lids. Ordinary sleep may be brought on by fatigue, or a dose 
of laudanum; but in such cases it differs, widely, from that 
sleep which is induced by sympathy with any peculiar pro- 
cess, adopted for its production. Somnipathy may be induced 
without contact, or the passes, whenever a positive relation 
is established between the susceptibility of the patient, and 
the process used to produce it. Nor is this all. According to 
this theory, if the patient were to be seated with his eyes 
closed, sleep would not follow, because, in that case, the mus- 
cles of the eye would not become fatigued. It is well known, 
that menoiony, or whatever tends to fix the attention, has a 
tendency to induce sleep; and in persons of the right suscep- 
tibility, somnipathy may be brought on in this way, or, in- 
deed, any other change produced in the system, which the 
patient is led to anticipate, under the direction of the ope- 
rator. 



CHAPTER VI. 



PATHETISM. 

• # 

From the foregoing pages it will have been seen, that by 
what I denominate pathelism, is meant susceptibility to the 
influence of an agency which is concerned in every feeling or 
emotion, or passion, or action which was ever felt, or put 
forth by any human being. It has to do with the laws of an- 
imal life — with nervous susceptibility to pleasure or to pain. 
Without it man is a lifeless body of matter. All the feelings 
therefore which one human being may be able to excite in the 
mind of another, whether pleasureable or otherwise, all the 
influence he is enabled to exert over mind, are identical with 
this same agency. If they be fromthe materia medica, receiv- 
ed into the stomach, or agencies applied to the surface of the 
body, their effects depend upon a susceptibility, peculiar to the 
living body. Or, if impressions be made upon the sensorium 
through the eye or ear, or through the nerves of sensation, 
the immediate agency which carries those impressions to the 
mind is patketism. It is heard in the tones of the voice, it is 
seen in the look of the eye, and the features of the face ; and 
in its effects thus produced, nothing is thought of it, because 
these are common and always before the mind. But when 
precisely the same thing, is felt from the touch of the human 
hand, those not familiar with the true philosophy of mind 
start back and tell us this cannot be ? But why not ? What 
has been known, or what is now known of the human system,/ 
which proves that the same influence may not be communi- 
cated to one, from the touch of the hand, which at other times 
reaches the soul through the eye, or the ear ? Or, who has 
been able to tell how it is that an impression is made upon 
the mind through the ear ? What is there in sound to af- 
fect mind ? Or, when the rays of light strike upon the optic 



PATHETISM. 69 

nerves, what makes the intellect take cognizance of the im- 
age which they make there? In a word, how is it that what 
we call mind is impressed by natural agencies, in any way ? 
Can matter control spirit ? 

And pressing these inquiries thus far, I might ask an objec- 
tor to tell the difference between matter and spirit — What is 
an element ? What are the laws by which mind and matter 
reciprocally affect each other ? What is life ? What is dis- 
ease and death ? 

Do you say that we know nothing of these first principles ? 
that we are in the dark as to the laws which operate in pro- 
ducing the most common occurrences of life ? Then it must 
not, it will not be denied, but that there are other things as 
mysterious and unaccountable, as the wonders of phrenopathy 
or clairvoyance. When I place my hand upon the head of 
another, and he manifests a feeling of sadness or joy ; when 
by the same simple process, I cause him to weep or to sing, 
laugh or to pray, to rave with madness or to soar in ecstacies 
of pleasureable emotions, is there any more real mystery in 
the agency by which these things are done, than when one is 
made to weep by merely looking upon a scene of suffering : 
or when he is induced to sing from the influence of certain 
sounds which break upon the ear? 

And thus of mental perceptions, when the external senses 
are closed. It is not uncommon for persons to have more viv- 
id and impressive views of objects in their natural sleep, than 
they ever had in their waking state. The system being 
composed and all the faculties at rest, except the one or two 
whose excitement constitutes the dreaming, the energies of 
the whole seem to be concentrated upon* those organs, and an 
impression is thus made more powerful than any which could 
be produced when all the organs are in a state of general 
wakefulness. The phenomenon of dreaming is common, and 
therefore excites no surprise. But when one is put into a 
state of sleep by artificial means, and in that state he is found 
to see with his eyes fast closed, and to have perceptions of dis- 
tant objects, the phenomenon is new, and we cannot admit it. 

If we take two pieces of smooth soft iron, and put them in 



70 PATHETISM. 

contact, we do not see that one has any influence upon the 
other; but if we rub one piece upon the other, in one direc- 
tion only, for a length of time, we perceive that by this pro- 
cess, we have established such a relation between the two, 
that they mutually attract each other. And yet we cannot 
detect any substance in either of them which was not there 
before ; nor do we see that a fluid of any kind is actually com- 
municated by one and received by the other. All we know 
about this phenomenon is, that by a certain process, a relation 
has been established between those two pieces of iron, which 
causes them to stick together in this manner. What that re- 
lation is we do not know. It would seem, however, that this 
process had actually produced a difference in the qualities of 
iron; for before they were passed upon each other in the way 
I have stated, they were precisely alike in quality ; for on 
applying either of them to either pole of an ordinary magnet, 
they affected it exactly alike. But, not so, after they have 
been rubbed together, as above ; for, after this process, one of 
them will be found to possess north polarity, and the other 
south; thus proving that though they were precisely alike in 
quality, before, yet, this process has changed the quality of 
both, and rendered them susceptible of attraction or repulsion. 

But who, on seeing this simple phenomenon, would set it 
down as humbuggery ; and yet, is there not precisely as much 
of mystery and the marvellous in all this, as in any of the 
alleged effects produced by pathetism ? 

Every one knows, that the health of a well person is endan- 
gered, more or less, by coming often in contact with another 
who is diseased. But by what law is disease communicated 
in such cases ? Children who sleep with the aged and infirm, 
are known to become enfeebled, and sometimes even to as- 
sume the deerepid appearance of old age. When the little 
one is hurt, by accident, the mother instinctively passes her 
hand over the place, as if it were an impulse of nature which 
prompted the removal of pain by this simple process. And 
you will see similar promptings of sympathy, even among 
animals, when their young or their species give signs of pain 
or suffering, so easy it is to trace this same law through the 



PATHETISM. 71 

various grades of animal existence. Yet in ail these things 
we see one of the laws of this same agency and susceptibility ; 
and we may understand how mistaken the views of those 
persons are, who look upon the subjects discussed in the 
pages of this work, as exclusively connected with the marvel- 
lous, and confined to those who deal in jugglery, or fortune 
telling, or the mysteries of the " black art." 

We see, moreover, how it is, that our labotft present their 
claims upon the benevolence of the philanthropist, and the 
faith of the christian; inasmuch as the grand object is the il- 
lustration of those causes which induce the most frightful 
forms of disease and suffering which human beings are doom- 
ed to endure. What disease is to be more dreaded than in- 
sanity ? What affliction more terrible than that which deran- 
ges the mental functions, and unhinges the human mind ? 
What more appalling than a disease which makes shipwreck 
of the intellect, and converts the reason into the ravings of 
madness ? What calamity like that which changes the dearest, 
tenderest ties of the kindest heart, into the bitterness of gall, 
and the furious paroxysms of hatred ? What malady so 
frightful, so pregnant with woes, so difficult to manage, so 
painful to friends, and so fearful in its tendencies ? Before the 
blight of this dreadful affliction, the fairest, tenderest flowers 
are swept away, as by the blast of the tornado. The loft- 
iest minds, the stars and suns of our intellectual heavens, are 
blotted out; neither age nor sex, nor profession, are spared. 
Even the cunsolations of our holy religion, do not afford per- 
fect security ; the devoted christian, and the man of God, at 
the altar, are alike liable, and as often fall beneath this 
fatal scourge. 

Alas ! when, oh ! when will professed christians see and 
know as they should do, that upon these laws, depend those 
states of the mind, which render obedience to the Divine Be- 
ing, and religious enjoyment, even possible? that the laws of 
mind, those laws by which mind is developed and made to 
understand its various relations, are as really the laws of 
God's appointing, as any contained in the sacred pages ? and 
that the violation of these laws unfits us tor the Divine will 
as really as the commission of any other crime ? 



72 PATHETISM. 

We have, thus far, considered the mind only in its manifes- 
tations through the physical organs; and this view of it will 
he continued in speaking of the effects produced by pathelism ; 
so that I must always be understood as having reference to 
the entire person compounded of mind and matter, and which, 
as we have seen, reciprocally act upon each other. 

It must be remembered also, that the effects I speak of in 
this chapter %re produced on subjects both in the waking 
and sleeping state ; though, in an infinite variety of degrees, 
in different persons, and also by processes entirely different in 
producing the same effects. Let us consider a few of them 
in detail. 

1. The five senses, 

(1.) Touch and feeling. This sense seems to be the first, 
and most perfectly developed, and hence, it is the first usually 
affected by this process. Passing the hand quieily down the 
arm, and inside the hand of the patient, produces numbness, 
or a sensation similar to that felt when the limb is said to be 
asleep; and when particular portions of the brain are operated 
upon, or the common mode of pathetising is continued long 
enough, the sensation of feeling is completely annihilated, 
though, in such cases, sense would seem to be transferred 
and not destroyed. For, it not unfrequently happens, that 
while the patient has no sensation of pain from any violence 
clone to his own system, yet his sense of feeling in other res- 
pects, is increased when asleep, a hundred fold. He becomes, 
perhaps, exceedingly affected, on being touched by a stranger, 
or one who is disagreeable to him, or by any metallic or min- 
eral substance. 

Some persons, in a state of somnipathy, are agreeably affect- 
ed by the touch of an ordinary magnet, others are disagreeably 
affected by it, and others, still, are not sensible of any effect 
when touched by it, at all. Somnipathists not unfrequently 
manifest a most singular sympathy of feeling with the opera- 
tor; so that, while they are not conscious of any violence in- 
flicted on their own persons, they show the keenest sense of 
feeling on the infliction of any pain upon the pathetiser, and 
sometimes, also, when the pain is inflicted on any one who is 



PATHETISM. 73 

in contact with either of them. In such cases it would seem, 
that the skin performs all its ordinary functions, except that 
the nerves of sensation do not convey impressions to the brain. 
But where are the nerves of sense all this while? What 
becomes of their functions ? And if the influence by which 
this result is produced, be, correctly speaking, " a nervous flu- 
id," or an agency peculiar to the nerves of motion, and by which 
these organs perform their functions, how comes it to pass, 
that the patient, when brought under its influence, is at once, 
deprived of this important function of the nervous system? — 
It may be said, that this agency must be conveyed, and its in- 
fluence received by the ordinary nerves, because, it takes away 
their functions. But, this inference cannot, necessarily, follow, 
because we know, that this result is seen only in particular 
cases. And, besides, if in the process of pathetising, a nervous 
fluid is actually communicated from the operator to the pa- 
tient, the inference would be reasonable, that the power of 
the nerves of sensation and motion, in the patient, would be 
greatly increased. The increase of the power by which the 
nerves perform this office, should, certainly, increase the sus- 
ceptibility, and make the patient more sensible to the inflic- 
tion of pain, and, indeed, it should heighten, in everyway, the 
nervous powers of the system. We rind, however, upon ex- 
amination, that, generally, the results are directly the reverse 
of this ; for, instead of the patient's becoming more refined in 
his sense from touch or violence, he is wholly insensible ; 
and on the other hand, substances which produced no sensation 
from mere contact in the waking state, produce the strongest 
impressions when the patient is asleep ; and from mere con- 
tact with the hand of some somnipathists, as well as others of 
a peculiar temperament, when wide awake, they have a sense 
of different substances, and are able by this process, alone, 
without the sense of sight or hearing, to tell their qualities, 
and the feelings which others seem to entertain towards them. 
Medicines held in the hand of such persons, produce slight ef- 
fects upon the stomach ; and they will, frequently, be found 
able to distinguish different persons by touching them, and not 
only so, but to distinguish between different articles, placed 



74* TATHETISM. 

before them, while their eyes are closed, and they will distri- 
bute each one to its rightful owner. I have had a patient 
who, when asleep, and half a dozen articles were thrown into 
his lap, as handkerchiefs, penknives, pencils, pieces of mo- 
ney, finger-rings, &c, with his eyes fast closed, would select 
them one by one, and not only hand each to its owner, but he 
would put the articles into the same hand from which they 
had come to him. So that, if one held out the left hand to 
receive a handkerchief which he had deposited with his right, 
the patient, after touching it, would perceive it, and keep 
back the article until he found the right hand. 

Mr. Cornwall, a recent graduate of the Wesleyan Universi- 
ty, Middletown, Ct., gives an account of two cases, in which 
this sense was developed, so as to distinguish colors in a most 
remarkable degree. His subjects were two sisters, aged seven 
and twelve years. They discovered the color of any article 
handed them, merely by the sense of feeling. The youngest 
would put the article in contact with her lips before fully de- 
ciding. They told the color of things equally well in the dark 
as in the light, with their eyes blind-folded, and without his 
knowledge of the articles. Once, when they were both asleep 
together, he presented to the eldest a piece of calico, with a 
white ground, and minute diamond shaped figures upon it, 
and asked her for the color, she replied, " it is white, but 
there are little things in it, I don't know what." The calico 
was then handed to her sister, and she was asked what shape 
the " little things" were ? After feeling it, she answered, V I 
guess they are diamond shaped." When different articles of 
different colors were presented, they invariably designated the 
several colors of each. 

And, at the present time, I have a subject who is able to 
read words, and distinguish articles, apparently from this 
sense alone. It is well known to what an astonishing degree 
of acuteness the sense of touch has often been cultivated by 
the blind; and the case of a mute in the Hartford Asylum, 
(Ct.) is, perhaps, one of the most remarkable of this kind 
upon record. She finds little or no difficulty in designating 
pers on s by this sense, and she will even select her own cloth- 



PATHETISM. 75 

ing, at any time, from any number of other articles, even if 
made of precisely the same materials. She performs various 
kinds of needle work, and threads her needle in her mouth, 
a most singular performance to be sure, but that she does it, 
I know, from actual observation. 

But it will be noticed, that between the cases of the blind 
and the sense of feeling in somnipathists, there is this marked 
difference — the former have the sense of pain, from contact or 
touch, in the latter it does not seem to exist, except by sym- 
pathy with another; or when a particular organ in the brain 
is excited, for this purpose. 

There is a point between the organs of firmness and venera- 
tion, which I have called the organ of sensation. It is very 
small, and when excited, it renders the surface of the entire 
system so inconceivably sensitive, that the patient manifests 
the greatest dread of contact with any thing, and in persons 
of the highest susceptibility it should never be touched, at all ; 
as I have known mischievous results to follow from its excite- 
ment, and I doubt not, in some cases, it might produce death. 
And yet, though the human system may be rendered so ex- 
ceedingly sensitive by the influence of another, it seems still 
more wonderful, that it can by the same agency, be so complete- 
ly deprived of all sensation from the infliction of violence, to 
such an extent, even, that the teeth have been extracted, the 
limbs amputated, and various difficult surgical operations 
performed upon the system, without the patient's know- 
ledge, and without the infliction of the least imaginable de- 
gree of suffering. A case is detailed in the 4th number of 1st 
volume of the Magnet, of an adipose tumor, cut out of the 
arm of a lady, while in a state of somnipathy. The tumor 
was five inches long, and five in breadth, at the lower half; 
and though the lady was exceedingly nervous and fearful in 
her normal state, yet she knew nothing of what had been 
done to her, till restored to her waking state. 

More recently the papers have given an account of a pa- 
tient in the Wellow Hospital, Nottingham, England, who 
had his thigh amputated while in this state, and it is curious 
enough, to see how unwilling some of the medical profession 



76 PATHETISM* 

seem to be, to admit any thing in favor of the agency ofpath- 
etism in that case. Sir R. Dobson* adduces a number of ca- 
ses, to show, that patients have borne surgical operations 
without giving any signs of suffering, without the aid of pa- 
thetism or opium, and then adds : 

" If ever I have wanted to magnetize a man who was about 
to undergo a painful operation, I have done it by working up- 
on his mind through his ears, (not by moving my hand before 
his eyes), and have, over and over again, succeeded in crea- 
ting in my patients, a fortitude and resolution under which 
they have never murmured during the operation." 

Now, I should like to know, what Sir R. Dobson would 
make the difference to be, between an effect, produced on the 
mind, through the ears, and the same thing done through the 
eyes, or through any other sense ? The truth is, he does not 
seem to know enough about the nature of the human mind, 
to see that in whatever way the mind is affected, the immedi- 
ate agency is the same, and hence, when it is admitted that 
the mind may be affected through the ear, enough is admitted 
to prove all I ask, in behalf of pathetism. 

(2.) The sight. This faculty may be improved, we know, 
in the waking state, by practice, as when mutes are compel- 
led to depend upon this sense to supply the deficiency in hear- 
ing. We have seen an account of one who, from long prac- 
tice in reading the telegraphic language of the deaf and dumb, 
had acquired a quickness of sight, which enabled him to read 
the evanescent writing, made by the fore finger of another in 
the air, with the rapidity of thought. 

The power of sight may be increased or diminished by pa- 
thetism, and when the patient is thrown into a state of som- 
nipathy, it would seem to be often taken from the eye and 
transferred to the ends of the ringers, and some are said to be 
able to see also, from the end of their toes. In most cases of 
somnipathy, the pupil is turned upwards in an unnatural man- 
ner, and if the lids be opened, nothing is discerned by the eye, 
except, sometimes, the operator, or whatever else he may di- 
f ect the patient to look at. But, when somnipathists describe 
* London Lancet, Jan. 21st, 1843. 



PATHETISM. 77 

things sometimes, with the eyes wide open, it is not certain 
that they exercise the functions of the eye ; for, we know, that 
often, when they are commanded to open the eye, no impres- 
sion can be made upon the optic nerve, by the strongest light. 
In some cases the power of sight would seem to be trans- 
ferred to the epigastrium, and I had one patient who in this 
state, could describe nothing without putting it to the pit of 
the stomach; and many cases are reported where this sense 
has been, by catalepsy, lost to the eye, and strongly developed 
in the region of the solar plexus. 

In two cases I have known, pathetism, as it would seem, 
has given the power of sight, or perception, without touch, 
to persons born blind. One of these patients when asleep, 
I have known to read scores of names, without the sense of 
touch or sight, or hearing ; and she has done this in the pre- 
sence of scores and hundreds of people, physicians and clergy- 
men. 

But her powers of clairvoyance are not equal to those of ordi- 
nary somnipathist, who have the organs of natural vision unim- 
paired. And she does not read, or describe what is altogether 
unknown to the operator, except in cases of sickness, or when 
she has been requested to describe the anatomy of the human 
system ; and this she has done, when I had put her to sleep, 
in the presence of medical and scientific gentlemen, and she 
has done it in her own case with an accuracy which could not 
be counterfeited. Often, when I have put her to sleep, she 
has given the most minute and accurate description of the vi- 
tal and mental organs, and their various functions, and I know 
that she gave these descriptions without any direction from 
me, or any other person, and without even having had any 
previous knowledge of the things she described. She has de- 
scribed things to me, in the presence of competent witnesses, 
which she could not have known before the moment when 
"her attention was called to them. 

But in saying this, I should add, perhaps, that in these ca- 
ses, this patient often made mistakes, and gave accounts more 
or less fanciful, of most things which she was requested to 
describe. 



78 PATHETISM. 

The sight, also, may be increased, in the waking state, bj 
applying the fingers to portions of the brain, and we have 
known patients whose power of vision by the eye would he- 
come much augmented, also, by the mere direction of the op» 
erator, when in. the state of somnipathy. 

(3.) Tasting. This sense may be controlled more or less in 
the waking state, by applying the fingers to the organs of ali- 
mentiveness, or their sympathetic points. In other cases, I 
have controlled it without any contact, when the patient was 
highly susceptible, and have known them to take water and 
declare it lemonade, tea, &c, merely on my offering it to them 
as such. But when the subject is in a state of somnipathy, 
this faculty is often found to be most strangely perverted; for 
any substance put into the patient's mouth, is not tasted at all ; 
but when taken by his pathetiser, it is tasted, and the patient 
declares immediately, what it is. If the operator eats an ap- 
ple, or a meal, while his patient is in this state, the latter 
gives evidence of the same sensations, as if he, himself, were 
eating. And sometimes they may be made to eat a hearty 
meal, and being restored to wakefulness, they are more hun- 
gry than before; but if the operator eat, and command his pa- 
tient to be satisfied with it, on waking up, the patient feels that 
he has taken a full meal, though he has eaten nothing. Some- 
times, the sympathy is so great, that if you give the patient 
for instance, an apple, and if, after he commences eating it, 
you eat salt or pepper, the patient instantly throws away the 
apple, declaring it to be the substance you, yourself, are tast- 
ing at the moment. 

I placed a piece of copper and zinc in the mouth of a somni- 
pathist, the one above and the other below the tongue; and 
on bringing them in contact, he declared no sensation was pro- 
duced ; but on putting them in my own mouth, without his 
knowledge, he seemed considerably affected by it. In the 
Magnet for February, 1843, the case of two mutes is described", 
who were thrown into a state of somnipathy, and who, while 
in this state, exhibited many of the phenomena developed up- 
on others. They were susceptible of taste and feeling through 
the operator ; exhibited some of the phenomena in phreno- 



PATHETISM. 79 

pathy, and communicated witli the operator by their usual 
signs. 

(4.) Smell. In some cases this sense may be excited by 
holding the fingers to what the French call the " wings of the 
nose." When asleep, however, and sometimes when awake, 
like the other senses, already noticed, it seems to be perverted, 
or singularly transferred, to different parts of the patient's own 
system, or to the olfactory nerves of the operator. I have had 
somnipathists, who could detect the smell of substances, by 
holding them in the hand, and yet, the strongest ammonia, 
held to their nostrils while they were breathing through them, 
produced no visible effect, at all. But, on holding it to the 
nostrils of the operator, they would be strangled, and thrown 
into convulsions." 

Being invited to operate before a private committee, the 
following case occurred. The chairman had requested a no- 
ted physician to inspect the proceedings, and had taken with 
him a phial of highly concentrated ammonia. After the 
patient had been put to sleep, the chairman handed the phial 
to the physician, and {supposing she could hear,) he said to 
me, — "Mr. S., let me pinch your hand.'- But instead of 
pinching my hand, the Dr. held the open phial to the patient's 
nose for some time, during which she gave no signs of the sen- 
sation of smell at all. This experiment was repeated with 
the same results. I then, (unknown to the patient) took the 
phial, and on placingit to my own nose, the patient was quite 
strangled, and thrown into convulsions. Her face became 
quite colored, and she begged she might not be " compelled to 
smell that hartshorn, again, as it always took away her breath 
so." 

This attempt to deceive the patient should and uould have 
been successful, had she not been perfectly asleep; and had 
there been no real sympathy between her nervous system and 
that of the operator, no one could be able to account satisfac- 
torily, for the manner in which she was affected. 

(5.) Hearing. This seems to be the last sense which is af- 
fected by ordinary sleep, and the first which is reached in the 
change from common sleep to wakefulness. And we find, al- 



80 PATHETISM. 

so, that it is the most difficult one to be affected by pathelism, 
for we are frequently able to produce somnipathy, and even 
the highest degrees of ecstacy, while the patient retains this 
sense, and heightened to an extraordinary degree. During the 
process of operating, patients are frequently annoyed by the 
least noise, and in a large number of cases, where every other 
sense seems to be closed by this process, the hearing remains 
the same, or more generally improved, by having the other 
senses subdued, so that the attention becomes wholly occu- 
pied through this medium. When it is completely subdued 
in sleep, the patient hears nothing, except the voice of the op- 
erator, and often, not this, unless it be directed to him. Thus 
I have often called the names of my patients aloud, while they 
were asleep, but they did not seem to hear, without I direct- 
ed the voice to them, with the design that they should hear. 
At other times I have directed patients to wake up without 
the sense of hearing, and oncoming back to the normal state, 
they have been perfectly deaf. Others still, while they hear 
the sound of the voice, are not able to understand what is said 
to them by any beside the operator, and sometimes, though 
they do understand, they lack the power to answer, or to give 
their attention to it. 

But when this sense is perfectly subdued, the patient may 
be made to hear any other persons, either by their coming in 
contact with him, or with the operator, or by being directed 
by the latter to hear what is said. On putting an intelligent 
physician to sleep, he could not distinguish the notes of a pi- 
ano, till I passed my hands over the keys; and at other times 
the patient can hear the piano, if I lay my hands upon it when 
at a distance from him. 

Having considered the effects of pathetism upon the five 
senses, in detail, let us now proceed to some of the changes 
observed from this process upon : 

2. The Muscles. One of the first effects noticed upon the 
muscles is, that the will of the subject cannot control them. — 
They are rendered perfectly rigid, and put into any imagina- 
ble position, from which the patient finds it impossible to 
change them. Passing the hand down the arm, and occa- 



PATHETISM. 81 

sionally clasping it with both hands, carrying it downward, at 
the same time, will, often, render it so rigid that it will re- 
main an indefinite length of time, in any position where the 
operator places it. And, when a sympathetic relation has be- 
come sufficiently established between the operator and sub- 
ject, the former may, by a mere effort of his will, render the 
limbs, and the entire muscular system of the latter, as rigid as 
if frozen, and contract them or extend them to such a degree, 
that they cannot be altered without manifest injury to the sys- 
tem. This may be done, while the subject is either awake or 
asleep, and the strength of the limbs may be increased some- 
times ten-fold beyond what can be put forth by the subject in 
the normal state. 

3. The Nerves. By all persons who have heretofore writ- 
ten on this subject, it has been assumed, as a matter of intui- 
tion, that what I denominate pathetism, or the " human influ- 
ence," is conveyed from one system to another by the nerves 
of sensation, or motion, or both. Hence it has been called the 
" nervous fluid," "neuraura," &c. But no one of these theo- 
rists have ever been able to tell which class of the nerves, 
convey or receive this influence. Are they the nerves of sen- 
sation? We have already seen that the process of pathetis- 
ing most generally suspends the function of these nerves, 
entirely. Are they the nerves of motion ? This process usu- 
ally suspends the power of locomotion, and, indeed, all vol- 
untary muscular motion throughout the system. Hence the 
conclusion is inevitable, that a distinct class of organs or nerves 
exist, constituting a part of the medullary matter, probably, 
whose functions are purely sympathetic. This accounts for 
the effects of pathetism, and shows how it is *hat sensations 
are conveyed from the pathetiser to hissomnipathist, without 
contact, and when the latter is wholly insensible to pain from 
violence done to the nerves of sensation. By this process the 
function is suspended, and at the same time, the subject may 
be made to suffer more from mere sympathy with the opera- 
tor than he would from violence to his own system. All the 
sympathetic nervous sensibilities arc heightened to an extra- 
ordinary degree, while the functions of the other nerves are 
partially or wholly suspended. 



82 PATHETISM. 

4. It is certain, that all the organs concerned in the func- 
tions of animal life may be affected, and their action modified 
or increased by pathetism. The stomach, as we have seen, is 
reached by operating on the organs of alimentiveness, and 
in some persons we have found other contiguous, sympathe- 
tic points, through which the same effects could be produced, 
or its action reversed, and fits of vomiting brought on. 

The lungs are usually more or less affected, either directly 
or sympathetically, by this process. By placing the fingers on 
the points in the face where the hectic flush appears in phthi- 
sis, I have often relieved the lungs; and by a similar process 
the respiration and exspiration may be increased or diminished. 
Not ^infrequently, patients will be affected more or less in the 
organs of respiration, by the simple process of pathetising with- 
out any such design, and sometimes, severe convulsions en- 
sue. These effects followed most of Mesmer's operations, but 
they are not the necessary results, and seem generally to come 
on, either through the fear or anxiety of the patient, or the 
want of skill or health in the operator. 

All the circulations may be affected, according to the sus- 
ceptibility of the patient. I have increased the pulse to 150 
or more, and reduced it so low, that it could not be perceived 
at all, and as far as I could judge, it ceased for a few moments 
entirely. 

I have also produced action in the kidneys, and defecation. 
And, in a word, the functions of the different vital organs, 
may be controlled by this agency in all susceptible subjects, 
to a degree, which is truly astonishing to such as have not 
made themselves familiar with its influence. 

We have onjy to ascertain the portions of the brain, or 
those sympathetic points in the system, which correspond 
with any given organ, and it is just as easy to produce any 
degree'of excitement or change in the functions of these organs, 
as it is to affect the patient at all. Nor, indeed, is this always 
necessary, for in many cases, the sympathetic relations of the 
system, are so fully developed, that decided changes may be 
produced in any of the animal functions, merely by operating 
on the general susceptibilities of the system, and passing the 



PATHETISM. 83 

hand over the part where the disease is located. In this way 
many extraordinary cures have, undoubtedly, been effected. 

5. The Mental Organs. Whatever effects are produced by 
operating directly upon the vital, or mechanical organs, the 
cerebral organs, yield, more or less, by sympathy, in the gen- 
eral results. Thus, if you make the passes over the arm till 
it becomes rigid, the brain loses all control over that limb. — 
And, if you operate on any other portion of the body, the brain 
sympathises in the effects produced, more or less; and indeed, 
there is no conceivable emotion, feeling or passion, nor any ac- 
tion either of the human body, or of animals, fowls, or fish, that 
a susceptible subject may not be made to imitate by this agen- 
cy. Dancing, laughing, singing, weeping, scolding, righting, 
praying, leaping with joy, or raving with madness, swimming 
like a fish, crawling like a snake, hopping like the frog; and, 
indeed, any other conceivable action or noise peculiar to any 
living creature, may be brought out of subjects who are high- 
ly susceptible. In one moment they may be rendered wholly 
insensible to pain, and perfectly reckless as to their persons 
and character; in the next, so exquisitely sensitive that they 
feel like being crushed by the weight of a feather, and so fear- 
ful that the breath is well nigh suspended, lest it should ex- 
pose them to some dreadful impending catastrophe. 

The effects produced by operating directly upon the sepa- 
rate cerebral functions, will be noticed in a succeeding chap- 
ter, under the head of Phrenopathy. 

6. Consciousness. My control over the consciousness of 
patients, is just in proportion to the susceptibility. The func- 
tions of all the mental organs may be increased to insanity, or 
subdued into a state of perfect repose, where the patient seems 
lost to this world, as really as though he had ceased to live. 
And from this state of unconsciousness, he may be waked up^ 
as it were, into another world, where all his feelings, views and 
perceptions, differ, toto ca?lo, from those peculiar to him in his 
normal condition. In this state he may sometimes be made 
to take cognizance of the thoughts and feelings of his operator, 
and those in relation with himself. Sometimes he perceive* 
distant persons, places, and things, and describes with accu- 



S4f PATHETISM. 

racy, objects of which neither he nor any other person pre- 
sent had any previous knowledge. 

If he be diseased himself, he will often point out the seat 
and the cause of the difficulty, and direct to the appropriate 
means for a cure. Or if his attention be called to the disease 
of another, whether present or absent, he sometimes gives the 
diagnosis with surprising accuracy ; and the mental characters 
and particular habits and peculiar dispositions of persons are 
described in the same way, of whom neither himself nor opera- 
tor could have had any knowledge beforehand. 

Sometimes somnipathists remember all that took place, in 
the sleeping state; but generally, they remember nothing, ex- 
cept such things as the operator impresses upon the memory. 
And on the minds of some, almost any imaginable impressions 
may be made, when asleep, and when in the normal state, 
the whole seems to them as a reality. If directed to forget 
their own names, or places of residence, or any thing else, 
which they had ever known, these results sometimes follow, 
and I have known such impressions to remain for months, 
and in one case, for a year, at least. 

One of the most singular effects produced upon the mind, is 
the change in the feelings, peculiar to somnipathists, while in 
this state. A lady, whom I cured of insanity, conversed with 
me freely about her mental difficulties, and the causes which 
had contributed to bring them on, but she cautioned me so- 
lemnly, against suffering her to know any thing about it in her 
waking state; and she extended this injunction to every thing 
she said or saw in her sleep, as she declared, that for her to 
know in her normal state, anything of what she said or did in 
her sleep, would have a tendency to augment her mental aber- 
rations; and her predictions were, unhappily., verified by the 
malicious interference of a professed friend, who, wishing to 
prejudice her mind against the process by which she had been 
relieved, told her of things she had said in her sleep, and it 
excited her mind to such a degree, that it induced partial in- 
sanity ; and since that, she has obstinately refused to submit 
again to this method of cure. 

Others will speak freely of the habits and feelings, when 



PATHETISM. 85 

asleep, and disclose matters which they would on no account 
consent to have known when awake. This they will do, at 
times, both of themselves and oihers. 

Though the mental perceptions of moral relations and du- 
ties seem to be considerably heightened in this state in the 
generality of subjects, yet I have usually found that somnipa- 
thists carry with them, into this state, many of their ordinary 
views and peculiar prejudices. I knew a skeptic, who, when 
asleep, maintained his deistical views, and advocated also, the 
doctrine of the transmigration of souls, affirming, that he had 
lived in a number of bodies, previous to his appearance in the 
one he now occupied. 

But how does it come to pass, that while somnipathists are 
found to be so clairvoyant, in respect to things at a distance, 
they maybe, at the same time, so strangely deceived with re- 
gard to the nature of things they hold in their hand, or which 
they can test by the sense of taste ? A handkerchief thrown 
into the lap of one, becomes a babe, or a cat, or a dog, or snake, 
according to the will of the operator, and the substance is han- 
dled by the patient, with the same feelings which he would 
have, on holding these various animals. And similar decep- 
tions may be practised upon them with regard to persons, 
time, and places. I have put them to sleep, and caused them 
to hold conversation with imaginary persons, or persons at a 
distance, which have been carried on with all the soberness 
of reality, while, at the same time, the patient was more con- 
scious of the presence and characters of persons around him 
than he could have been in the normal state. 

If asked the time of day by any particular watch, the pa- 
tient will tell accurately, a dozen times in succession; while 
at the same time, if told to believe when he is waked up, that 
he has been asleep a week, he implicitly obeys, and does not 
6uspect that any deception had been played upon him. I di- 
rected a patient to remember on waking that he had lived in 
the house where he had just been put to sleep for one year, 
though he had never lived there one day. On waking, the 
hallucination remained, and three months afterwards, on being 

asked how long he had lived in that family, he answered, " one 
ii 



86 PATHETISM, 

year." When told to wake up, and remain awake, one, two, 
or five minutes, some somnipathists will obey to a second, and 
when in this sleep, if directed to go into it again, at any fu- 
ture time, without being pathetised for the purpose, they do 
so, and without any seeming consciousness of the cause or the 
connection of one state with the other. Some, by being di- 
rected, forget the names of their friends, and, indeed, their 
own names, and may be made to answer to any other name 
as if it were their own. 

And so of places. They may be made to believe them- 
selves in any imaginable place, however distant, and when 
told to remember the appearance of the things they saw, on 
waking up, they describe them frequently, as the remembrance 
of a dream, and sometimes with the vividness of waking con- 
sciousness. 

7. The "Will. Nothing can be done without the will of 
the operator, and the consent of the patient. That is, no re- 
lation can be established, without the consent of the patient ; 
but when this relation has been once established, effects may 
be produced without the patient's knowledge or consent. — 
This statement, however, should be received with some cau- 
tion. It is not, by any means, true, in a general sense, that 
one person can put another to sleep against his will ; especi- 
ally if the subject has never been previously pathetised. Be- 
fore the will of one person, without physical contact, can ex- 
ert much of any influence upon another, so as to produce any 
of the effects we have, now, under consideration, a posi- 
tive relation must be established between the parties. 

We have seen, that the will controls the susceptibility ; and 
hence, when a relation once exists between the susceptibility 
of the subject and the will of the operator, the former when 
sufficiently developed, may be made to obey the latter. Some- 
times the will may be made known to the patient by words 
or signs, or communicated through a piece of paper, or any j 
other substance; so that by sending a finger ring, for instance, 
when the patient is a mile or more distant, I have produced a 
state of somnipathy. At other times, this state may be in- 
duced without any other means, than a mere effort of the will, 



PATHETISM. 87 

when, as far as I have been able to judge, the patient could 
have no knowledge, either of the presence or design of the op- 
erator. When subjects have gone to sleep at a distance from 
the operator, it is not easy to prove, that they may not have 
been thinking of his designs, and thus have fallen into this 
state from an apprehension of his wishes, as I have known 
some to do. But other cases have come under my notice, 
where, as far as could be known, the patient went to sleep 
without the slightest knowledge or apprehension of the oper- 
ator's presence or design. So, that it must be confessed, that 
a highly susceptible subject may be put to sleep, sometimes, 
at least, by mere volition, when the operator is not present. 
but this can happen only in peculiar cases, as I have already- 
stated. 

That some somnipathists may be made to obey the will ^of 
the operator, cannot admit of any doubt. I do not say, that 
they can be willed to do things that are disagreeable to them, 
but they may be made willing to do many things they could 
not be made willing to do in the normal state. And hence, it 
should be known, that the person who submits to this process 
by another, of whose health, character, and other necessary 
qualifications he is not well assured, runs a hazard far more 
dangerous than the patient who merely swallows the nostrum 
of the quack, of whom he knows nothing; and that just so far 
as this operation is successful, just so far he receives the im- 
press, as it were, of the operator's heart. The mental dispo- 
sition of the latter has much to do with the impression made 
on the person who is put into the somnipathic state. Ot this 
fact I have had numerous demonstrations, which leave no 
room for the shadow of a doubt. All therefore should under- 
stand what results may follow, and those which do always fol- 
low, the influence which is exerted upon them by pathetism. 
That influence may, and should be good, and nothing but 
good; but this will depend, of course, upon the health, skill, 
and motives of ihe operator. 

It is not yet agreed, among those familiar with this sub- 
ject, whether the influence exerted on the subject when he is 
put to sleep, be purely physical, or mental, or both. By men- 



8S PATHETISM. 

tal influence, is understood an effort, merely, of the will, with- 
out giving any visible signs of it to the patient. The truth 
is, there is no such thing as an effort of the will without 
an exercise of the physical, or cerebral organs. We have al- 
ready seen, that the mind never acts without the brain, and 
how it is, that the mind and the susceptibility reciprocally 
affect each other. We have no evidence that a mere volition 
without any previous physical contact, ever induced a real 
case of somnipathy. Effects have been noticed, we know, that 
seemed to come very near such a case ; as it is well known, 
how powerful an influence may sometimes be exerted by the 
look of the eye, and from the features of the face; but I am 
not ready to believe, that the will of one person could be ex- 
erted to such an extent over the susceptibility of another 
without any previous physical contact. Nor is it true, that 
sleep could be induced without the operator's willing directly 
or indirectly to bring it on. But how much influence the will 
may have excited, in certain cases, it would not be possible to 
show. When I merely put a patient in a peculiar, sitting, 
recumbent, or standing posture, and lead him to anticipate re- 
lief from pain or sleep as the result, without willing him in 
any other sense, of course, my will has something to do with the 
effects, if any are produced ; but evidently, not what has been 
supposed by many, heretofore. When the patient is in a state 
of somnipathy, and the relation is sufficiently strong, he may 
be made to obey the mere volitions of the operator, in various 
ways, and hence it is quite common for the subject to walk, 
raise the limbs, open his eyes, and perform various evolutions 
when simply willed to do so by the operator. Xvfor is this pow- 
er confined to the sleeping state; as I have found it equally 
easy to exert a similar influence over susceptible subjects 
when awake. The only difference between them, is, in the 
latter case it is not so easy to communicate the ivishes to the 
subject without some visible or audible sign; but when he is 
by any means, made to understand what my wishes are, they 
are obeyed; and I have as much control over the limbs and 
muscles, as in a state of perfect somnipathy. 
Without the will of the operator, when restored to his wak* 



PATHETISM. 89 

iag state, the patient sometimes remembers nothing said or done 
to him in his state v£ somnipalhy ; nay, his own will, the ma- 
chinery of his own mental operations, is frequently found to 
have been completely under the will of the operator. For in- 
stance: the operator says to his patient, while in a state of 
somnipathy, " to-morrow, at nine o'clock, you must read the 
14th chapter of St. John. ,, The patient is waked up, but re- 
members nothing of this direction till precisely nine o'clock 
the succeeding day, when he feels singularly inclined to read 
that particular chapter, and when the moment arrives he opens 
the Bible and reads it. Again : the operator says to his pa- 
tient, when asleep, " to-morrow, at such an hour, you must 
go into this state again, or at such an hour you must fall into 
a state of natural sleep, and sleep just so many hours and then 
wake up." The patient obeys to the very letter, and this, too, 
without being, in the meantime, able to give any reason for 
what he feels inclined to do. 

In such case it is seen that the will of the operator is so 
thoroughly impressed upon the subject, that he not only obeys 
while asleep, but this obedience is carried from his sleeping 
to the natural state of wakefulness. 

8. Disposition and Character. I have had numerous cases 
which w T ould seem to prove, that the disposition and charac- 
ter of susceptible subjects may be controlled for some time af- 
ter the operation of pathetising. 

A gentleman called on me who appeared to be in great trou- 
ble; and with some reluctance stated, that his wife, (other- 
wise an amiable woman) had long been addicted to habits of 
intoxication. On informing him that I thought it possible I 
might help her, either by advice, or by the influence of pathe- 
tism, or both, he brought her to see me. At the second sit- 
ting she went into a sound sleep; and by suppressing tlte ac- 
tivity of certain portions of the brain, and exciting their nega- 
tive organs, she declared that she had no conceivable disposi- 
tion to taste or touch stimulating drink of any kind. It is now 
a year since, and she has remained thus far perfectly cured. 

I was called on to operate upon a patient who had been 
quite insane, and strongly inclined to suicide. In her sleep 



90 PATHETISM. 

she frankly described her temptations, and declared, that she 
would probably put an end to her existence, unless her feelings 
upon that subject were very much changed, which she in- 
formed me, was in my power to do. The effort proved suc- 
cessful, and since that time it is not known that she has been 
at all disposed in that way. Another of my patients had been 
sunk in a state of mental despair, for six years. She had been 
previously, quite zealous in religion, and during that time, she 
was known frequently to "lose her strength," as it is called, 
when she would appear to be exceedingly happy, and remain 
hours in a state of apparent catalepsy. On pathetising her, I 
not only removed her despair, but by exciting some of the or- 
gans, she declared herself perfectly happy, and what is re- 
markable, when I excited a particular organ, she instantly lost 
her strength and her limbs became rigid, precisely as she was 
formerly affected, under religious excitement. Indeed, she 
declared the two states to be precisely the same. This was a 
year ago, and thus far, I believe, her despair has not returned. 

Other cases have come to my knowledge of a similar kind, 
which leave no room to doubt, but that the character, and 
mental disposition of persons, who are highly susceptible, may 
be controlled, almost to any extent by this agency. And this 
follows as a matter of course, if we may control the separate 
cerebral organs; and just as far as we may be able to cause 
the impressions to remain, the influence must appear in the 
character of the patient. 

One or two cases of a similar influence are detailed in the 
Magnet for November, 1842, by Mr. L. N. Fowler. A highly 
susceptible lady, had long complained of a poor appetite. — 
He put her to sleep, excited alimentiveness, and after willing 
her to have a good appetite, waked her up. On visiting her 
a month afterwards, he was informed by her and her husband, 
that she never had a better appetite, that she had not missed 
a meal since he last saw her, and that she had no desire ior 
tea, coffee, or cucumbers, of which before he put her mind 
against them she was very fond. Her husband added, that 
after being pathetised, she ate more in one day, than in three 
before. Formerly, she had a great passion for reading, so 



PATHETISM. 91 

much so, that it amounted to dissipation, and injured her 
health. Mr. F. willed her in the sleep not to read but little; 
if she did he would cause her to be confused and sleepy. — 
From that time she lost about two thirds of her relish for read- 
ing. After reading a few minutes she became tired and sleepy, 
and unable to finish the article she commenced. 

Mr. F. pathetised a young lady with small veneration, which 
organ he excited, and willed her to say her prayers every nigh; 
before retiring. She informed him afterwards, that she was 
unable to go to bed until she had said her prayers. He exci- 
ted time and tune in another person, and the influence was ap- 
parent three days afterwards. 

9. Disease. It would swell this volume to an undue size 
to attempt a detail of particular cases, which have yielded to 
pathetism. That it has been successfully applied after the 
usual courses of medical treatment had long been tried in vain, 
is well known. And why not, when it is a fundamental prin- 
ciple laid down by the highest medical authors, that " all dis- 
eases must be cured by the inherent energies of the living sys- 
tem ; and that medicine can do no more than place the body 
in the most favorable circumstances for resisting disease." 

"Whatever, therefore, tends to assist the "inherent energies 
of the living system," in the greatest degree, must be the 
best remedial agent for the subject; and that pathetism does 
this in many cases, is a fact susceptible of the clearest demon- 
stration. And it is an observation common to the most intel- 
ligent and experienced pathetisers, that the onlp legitimate 
application of this influence is in the cure of disease and the 
relief of human suffering. Hence those efforts for the ac- 
complishment of these objects have always proved far more 
successful, than such experiments as have been carried on 
merely to gratify an unjustifiable curiosity. And hence, also, 
somnipathists will, usually, be found more ready and able to 
describe their own diseases, or the cases of others who need re- 
lief, than to test their clairvoyance in describing places or 
things, merely. 

The following are some of the diseases which, to my know- 
ledge, have been successfully treated, or greatly relieved by this 



92 PATHETISM. 

process : Head-ache, Sick Head-ache, Rheumatism, Paralysis, 
Pulmonary Affections, Pain in different parts of the system, 
Spinal Affections, Swollen Throat, Laryngites, Chorea, Liver 
Complaint, Neuralgia, Spasms, Fits, Hysteria, Cholera Mor- 
bus, Burns, Loss of Voice, Hypochondria, Madness, Insanity, 
Monomania, Inflammation, Tooth-ache, Contractions of the 
Muscles, Troublesome Sleep, Epilepsy, Intoxication, Deliri- 
um Tremens. 

As an anodyne, or for producing a state of quietude, and 
calming the nervous system, pathetism may be used, prob- 
ably, with greater advantage than almost any other remedy. 
And, as an auxiliary to the common medical agents, it has 
claims which should entitle it to the serious examination of all 
who make any pretensions to knowledge of the healing art. 

10. Anomalous Results. I say anomalous results, though 
I am confident that all that could be put down under this head, 
might be traced to the laws of Sympathy and Antipathy, 
which, as we have seen, governs the various susceptibilities 
of the living body. 

But these different effects should be examined, in order to 
determine how far they may be supposed to be produced by 
any of the known laws of magnetism or electricity; or whe- 
ther they are produced by nervous induction, or the communi- 
cation of a nervous substance, from the operator into the sys- 
tem of the patient. 

(1.) By the process of pathetising. There are numerous 
mysteries attending a state of somnipatliy, not particularly 
noticed in the preceding pages. For instance, numbers whom 
I have put into this state have, while in it, inquired why we 
called it a state of ship ? They have insisted that it was not 
a state of sleep, at all. One patient while in this state, does 
not remember he was ever in any other state; and yet, at the 
same time, all the ordinary avenues to the senses are fast clo- 
sed. He can neither see, hear, smell, taste, nor feel, without 
the consent of the operator. How is this ? He is alive; he 
can be made conscious of things, can be made to have clear 
and distinct perceptions of distant objects, which neither he 
nor the operator ever saw ! 



PATHETISM. 93 

And then, again, the various ways in which different per- 
sons are affected by similar processes, would seem to set all 
rules at defiance. 

One has a sense of heat, another of cold ; another is put to 
sleep, and another is convulsed from head to foot. One pa- 
tient remembers nothing in his waking state which took place 
in his sleep, except what he is directed to remember by the 
operator; another remembers everything; a third remembers 
nothing at one time in the somnipathic state, which took place 
in a previous state of somnipathy ; but it is not so with the 
fourth, who remembers every thing done in the same state at 
all previous sittings. Another patient remembers everything 
in the sleeping state, from one time to another, except what 
he is made to do by the excitement of any one of the mental 
organs; but what he does under these excitements, he never 
has any recollection of, except when the same organs are again 
excited. 

It is remarkable, that in some the somnipathic state differs 
so essentially from the waking state, while in others it seems 
scarcely to differ at all. Indeed, some, I know, seem to be in 
a state resembling somnipathy nearly or quite all the time. — 
I know an intelligent lady, who assures me that she is frequent- 
ly conscious of being in two different states, in which her per- 
ceptions of things are arrived at by entirely different mental 
processes. 

Many have, no doubt, been greatly misled by what has been 
supposed to be the effects of the passes. But I am certain that 
the best way of putting persons to sleep, is without any passes, 
or any contact with the patient at all; nor, indeed, are they 
necessary in relieving pain, where the susceptibility is suffi- 
ciently developed. I do not mean, that any one has ever been 
put to sleep by a mere mental effort who had never been op- 
erated upon before, as I have already stated, for it is yet to be 
determined, as to how much the wills of the operator and the 
patient have to do in bringing about the results under notice. 
I have frequently known persons to become considerably affect- 
ed on witnessing fur the first time, the process of pallatising 
on others. This I can easily explain, on the supposition that 



£4 PATHET1SM. 

this susceptibility, and the agency by which we operate, are 
traceable into that state of the system which gives rise to 
what has been denominated sympathy. Some, we know, man- 
ifest sympathetic phenomena, who were never trained or in- 
formed about it in any way; while others manifest nothing of 
it, and for the simple reason, that their susceptibilities are not 
of the right kind. 

Every person much familiar with pathetism, knows that 
the effects often produced on the cerebral organs do notjdepend 
merely upon any influence conveyed from the hand of the op- 
erator. Results of this kind vary, and these " variations" may 
be carried almost to any extent. 

The same mental results are produced in different cases, by 
touching different places on the head, and in some cases, all 
or most of the mental manifestations are brought out, by merely 
touching the toes, joints, fingers, and different portions of the 
body, without any contact with the head. Touching the fin- 
gers of one patient, produces anger, love, mirth, &c. Touch- 
ing the same fingers of another, ihe hand is moved in certain 
mathematical lines ; and a third, declares that touching his 
fingers, each one gives off or receives a different influence, like, 
or identical with electricity, magnetism and galvanism ! 

But, for these different and ever varying results, in subjects 
both awake and asleep, neither the magnetic nor the neurau- 
ra theories render any satisfactory account, as they do not, 
indeed, for numberless other phenomena, which so complete- 
ly annihilate many other beautiful castles, which have been so 
ingeniously constructed upon a few isolated facts. It has 
been supposed, that the true reason for these different results* 
is to be found in the different degrees in which the various 
subjects may have been pathetised. And I might think so too, 
probably, had I not performed a vast variety of experiments 
which go far, very far as I believe, towards demonstrating the 
contrary. Instance the following. Here is a person whose 
cerebral organs I can control, while he is awake, but he can- 
not be put to sleep. Another may be put to sleep, and his 
cerebral organs cannot be excited at all. Another is suscep- 
tible of the excitement of any portion of the brain, provided he 



PATHETISM- 95 

understands before hand what the impression is you wish to 
produce. 

I shall assign in the sequel what I suppose to he the correct 
solution of these mysteries. 

The attraction produced by pathetising, though real, is not 
reciprocal. The hand of the operator may, and often does 
attract the subject, but the hand of the subject does not at- 
tract that of ihe operator; and in some, there does not appear 
to be any attraction at all, though the subject is in a state of 
sound sleep. 

Different results are produced by the same process on dif- 
ferent individuals, both when awake, and after they are asleep. 
There are points in the face and neck, and indeed, throughout 
the entire system, w T hich sympathise with particular portions 
of the brain, and this fact shows how it is, that when any or- 
gan is controlled in any way, it speaks out through the eyes 
or muscles of the face. But there is nothing to demonstrate 
the existence of any connexion between the influence convey- 
ed by manipulation, exclusively through the nerves either of 
motion or sensation. I do not mean to be understood as con- 
veying the idea, that they are not affected by this influence, 
whatever it may be; but I know, and have demonstrated by 
numerous experiments, that this agency is not confined to these 
nerves, nor exclusively conveyed by them. 

It is well known, that when the operator applies his hand 
to any part of the system of a person in a state of somnipathy 
neither the nerves of motion nor sensation will be affected 
without he designs to produce some such result; and often, 
when they are touched by a third person, the patient is not 
sensible of it at all ! 

One somnipathist hears nothing said to him by any person 
except the operator, unless they put their hands upon either 
him or the pathetiser; another will hear anything said by one 
whom the pathetiser directs or wills him to hear, and nothing 
else. 

Another has the sense of feeling so much developed, that b e 
can tell the difference in colors by it, and others have nothing 
of this sense, and scarcely of any other. 



96 PATHETISM. 

The truth is, no two subjects are affected in all respects, 
alike; and hence it is quite easy for an operator to be misled 
in forming conclusions from experiments, performed on a score 
or less of individuals. I have found what appeared to be a 
correspondence, not only in the phenomena which are pro- 
duced on certain classes of persons, but also a correspondence 
in the results produced by the same operator on different sub- 
jects. 

Nor can there be any doubt, but that many subjects often, 
undesignedly, deceive themselves and those who operate up- 
on them. I have known some to affirm they did not hear, 
for instance, when I know they did hear ; and others have said 
they did not hear because they would not, and consequently, 
refused to answer when spoken to, not because they could not 
hear,. but simply because they did not choose to answer. 

(2.) The Imponderable Fluids. I include under this term, 
Electricity, Magnetism, and Galvanism. And one remark 
should be made in the outset, with regard to them. It is this, 
that I have never known any results produced by these agen- 
cies upon the human system, which had any resemblance to 
the phenomena described in the preceding pages, except in a few 
cases, where the subjects had been previously pathetised, and 
a degree of susceptibility, had, by this process, been awaken- 
ed in the system. I have performed various experiments with 
electricity and the magnet, but have never been able to pro- 
duce any decided results, until I had pathetised the subject for 
this purpose. And in all the effects I have ever known or 
heard of, produced by these agencies, on pathetised subjects, 
I have not been able to reduce them to any of the known elec- 
trical or magnetic forces, but they would seem to fall in with 
what we denominate the sympathetic and antipathetic laws 
of the human system, enumerated in the succeeding pages of 
this work. 

Applying a pointed steel to particular organs in the head 
of some subjects, the function of one is excited, while by the 
same means another is suppressed ; and applying the instru- 
ment to portions of the head, and noticing that one side was 
repelled, while the opposite would be attracted, first led me to 



PATHETISM. 97 

the conclusion, that the different cerebral organs were bal- 
anced in opposition to each other, and hence I called them 
positive and negative. But nothing of this kind have I ever 
observed, from persons who had not been previously pathetis- 
ed. Persons of extraordinary susceptibility will be affected by 
holding one end of an iron bar, in the hand of another person; 
but they are affected, usually, just as much, if no one holds the 
other end. Some have gone to sleep merely by holding a 
natural magnet in the hand, or by having the passes made 
over them with it ; but such have first been influenced by pa- 
thetism, and the same remark is true of the case described in 
the first number of the Magnet, where a lady, after having 
been repeatedly pathetised, fell into a state of sleep on the ap- 
proach of a thunder cloud; but while in this state, her path- 
etiser had the same influence over her, as if he, himself, had 
operated in order to bring about the result. 

A highly susceptible subject of my own, was affected direct- 
ly the reverse of this, for when asleep, I had to wake her up 
on the approach of a thunder cloud, and merely turning an 
electrical machine, within forty feet of her, when asleep, 
would throw her into spasms. 

Some somnipathists are favorably affected by the touch of 
a magnet or any metallic substance ; and others are so much 
disturbed by being touched by them, that it either wakes 
them, or they become convulsed. One is attracted by it, and 
another is repelled. The north pole attracts one portion of 
the system of one patient, and repels the same portion of an- 
other; and so also of the south pole; and, indeed, the same 
effects are produced by the application of any metallic sub- 
stance, and sometimes, when the pathetiser merely holds a 
piece of iron, or steel, in his own hand, unknown to the pa- 
tient. Nor is it always true, as has been supposed, that ef- 
fects produced by the magnet, cannot be removed without it f 
as we have had patients, when affected by the application of 
any kind of metal, who could be relieved only by pathetism, 
without any other means. The same is true, with regard to 
minerals. They do not seem to be uniform in their effects 
upon different patients, nor upon the same patient, at differ- 



98 1>ATHETISM. " 

ent times ; and never having been able to produce any very 
decided effects, either with minerals or electricity, until the 
subject had been previously pathetised, and thereby rendered 
highly susceptible, or in a few cases where the susceptibility 
had been supernaturally developed by disease, it would not, 
perhaps, assist us much in this enquiry, to give the details of 
these experiments. The history of Perkins' Tractors would be 
sufficient to show, that a susceptibility may be created in the 
system, which yields as readily to a piece of wood, as to a 
piece of steel or brass ; and having now sufficiently prepared 
the way, I proceed to state, what may be considered some of 
those laws of life, which give the true reasons for these vari- 
ous influences, exerted by so many apparently discordant 
agents over the human body. 



CHAPTER VI, 



THEORY OF PATHETISM. 



What is the nature of that agency which has generally 
been known under the terms Living Magnetism, Mesmerism, 
or Nervous Fluid ? Is it any thing different from the ordinary 
forces of Electricity, Galvanism, or Magnetism? Or, does the 
human brain eliminate a fluid or current, similar to the mag- 
netic forces, and which is governed by laws peculiar to itself? 
Many theories heve been fabricated in answer to these ques- 
tions; but still, the subject would seem to be far from having 
been satisfactorily settled. It is, certainly, one of some diffi- 
culty ; nor can we anticipate the time as very near, when sci- 
entific minds will give it that attention which its importance 
would seem to demand ; and, much less, that they will very 
soon agree as to the real nature of this influence, whatever it 
may be. 

It will not be necessary, perhaps, for me to attempt a detail 
of the various theories which have, from time to time, obtain- 
ed upon this subject. Having examined some of the effects of 
the agency I denominate Pathetism, or, as Mr. Townshend 
calls it, " human influence," we may now be able to judge as 
to what those laws must be, by which such results are pro- 
duced. The following is a summary of the conclusions at 
which I have arrived ; and, whether they assign the true rea- 
sons for the phenomena I have described, or not, will, of 
course, be left to the decision of my readers. 

THEORY. 

i. 
That Animal Life is an Element,' possessing attracting and 
resisting forces, peculiar to itself; and which control matter 
and the imponderable fluids. 



100 PATHETISM. 

II. 

That these vital forces, give those qualities to f the body 
which constitute a sympathetic system, and render all its 
parts susceptible to sympathetic and antipathetic Laws. 

m. 
That these Laws depend upon certain Relations, which dif- 
ferent substances, or entities, sustain to each other. 

IV. 

That the nature of these Relations, between two or more 
substances, organs, or entities, depends upon the difference, 
or likeness, in their qualities ox functions. 

v. 

That the susceptibility of different persons depends upon 
the developments of the ganglionic, or sympathetic system, 
which unites the mind, and the nerves of sensation and mo- 
tion. 

VI. 

That a peculiar connection between two entities, organs or 
substances, which differ in certain qualities or functions, pro- 
duces a positive relation or the law of sympathy. A connec- 
tion between two which are precisely alike, produces a nega- 
tive relation, or the law of antipathy. And, where bodies or 
substances are brought together which do not come up to a 
certain degree of difference, in quality or functions, a neutral 
relation, or a state of apathy, is the result. 

VII. 

The functions of the mental organs are balanced by contra- 
rieties, one against another. That is, they not only exist in 
pairs, but in groups, or families, in each hemisphere of the 
brain ; and the pairs, and groups, are balanced by other pairs 
and groups, whose functions are directly opposite. On the 
due development of these normal relations does consciousness 
and mental power depend. For, when they are deficient, or 
become disturbed or exhausted, the results appear in the 
states of the mind, such as idiotcy, monomania, insanity, and 
sleep. When the normal sympathetic relations are disturb- 



THEORY OF PATHETISM. 101 

ed between the cerebral organs and the nerves of motion or 
sensation in other parts of the system, the results are shown 
in apoplexy, paralysis, and other physical irregularities. 

TOT. 

The mind, and this susceptibility, or the sympathetic sys~ 
tern, reciprocally act upon each other. The latter is the ms- 
dium through which the emotions and volitions of mind are 
manifested, and through the same medium all its impressions 
are received. 

rx. 
By establishing a positive relation between two persons, 
the mind of one may thereby control the susceptibility of the 
other ; or by applying the hand of one to any part of the oth- 
er, different mental and physical changes, may thus be pro- 
duced. Hence it follows, that the only influence extended 
from one mind or body to another, depends upon the kind of 
relation established between them, and the same is true, 
with regard to any influence felt by the living body, from any 
other cause. 

x. 

A positive relation is kept up, between the vital organs and 
the substances on which the system depends for its nourish- 
ment, such as air and food, and, also, by the different func- 
tions of these organs ; and upon the proper balance of all the dif- 
ferent relations depends the health and vigor of the body. 
Their disturbance produces disease, and their annihilation, 
death. 

XI. 

The muscles and limbs are moved through these relations, 
which exist between different portions of the same muscles, 
and also, between these and the sympathetic nerves, through 
which the mind operates. From which it follows, that there 
is i reciprocal influence between the different nerves and the 
other organs of the entire system; and hence it is, that the 
state of one organ, or part, is changed by the state of anotner, 
with which it is in positive relation, 
i* 



102 PATHETISM- 

XII. 

These sympathetic relations exist between the menial organs 
and the nerves and muscles of the face; they shape the fea- 
tures, and thus lay the foundation for all that may be known 
of Physiognomy ; they give the contour to the entire system, 
so that relations may be traced between all the mental and 
physical developments; and from corresponding points of 
sympathy, throughout the body, the different cerebral organs 
may be excited and controlled by those external agencies, be- 
tween which and the susceptibility a positive relation has 
been established. 

XIII. 

The positive and negative relations are controlled in cer- 
tain cases, by the mind; so that the system is positively or 
negatively affected according to the mental apprehensions* 
In the same way relations may be created, or transferred 
from one substance to another. When the mind has been 
once impressed to a certain degree, from a mere apprehension 
of an influence from any cause, it takes cognizance of this re- 
lation; and in cases of high susceptibility, it does sometimes 
either create, or transfer it from one substance or agent, to 
another ; and hence the system is affected, precisely accord- 
ing to the anticipations of the mind, and not according to the 
real qualities of those things to which the relation has been 
transferred. 

XIV. 

The various vital, organic, and mental functions, are car- 
ried on by these different relations ; and from which it must 
follow, that upon the latter does the healthfulness and integ- 
rity of the former depend. And by applying those agencies 
which change these relations, we may increase or modify the 
mental or physical powers, and thus the Jive senses may be 
transposed and concentrated entirely in the sympathetic sys- 
tem ; or they may be wholly suspended, or even transferred, 
to the sympathetic system of the operator, 

xv. 
It is a universal law of nature, that positive results are 



THEORY OF PATHETISM. 103 

produced by a relation between an agent, and a subject, or 
two or more substances, brought into relation with each other. 
It is only by establishing a connection between two things, or 
forms which differ in quality, that a positive result differing 
in quality from either of the two is produced. This is the 
first law of Pathetism, and from which we see how it is, that 
one may not be able to produce the same effects upon differ- 
ent persons. 

This theory, itself, presents my reasons for rejecting the 
common views of a universal fluid. But yet, it may be neces- 
sary, in order to do the subject justice, that I should add a 
few remarks in answer to the following inquiries : — 

1. IS IT A UNIVERSAL FLUID ? 

It is not necessary, here, to inquire whether there is any 
difference between galvanism, magnetism, and electricity. It 
is generally admitted, that these terms designate, essentially, 
one and the same agency; and in this sense I shall use them. 
And it must be borne in mind, also, that these forces pervade 
all matter, and hence they must, more or less, affect the living 
body. We have further seen, that the electricity of the air, 
and the magnetism of the earth, may influence the vital phe- 
nomena in a greater or less degree. The lunar and solar in- 
fluences have been referred to ; but, it is certain that the vital 
forces control or resist these influences, as we have seen in 
the cases of heat applied to the living body. If this power 
were not inherent in vitality, it is not possible to determine 
how life could be perpetuated for any time. And, I shall not 
be expected, perhaps, to account for cases where, it is said, 
the needle has been affected by the approach of the human 
hand. But, though I have often tried, I have never seen any 
results of this kind. And even if any such have been produ- 
ced, a few of them could not outweigh the mass of preponder- 
ating facts which every where meet us, when examining this 
subject. They would merely prove what we all know to be 
true, that the human body has sometimes exhibited certain 
galvanic properties, which, however, do not depend upon any 
peculiar process, as far as is now known. 



104 PATHETISM. 

And, I may also be referred to a few cases, where a state 
of sleep has been brought on by the approach of an electrical 
cloud, or the application of an ordinary magnet; and it may 
be said, further, that many of the phenomena attending som- 
nipathy are so very much like the effects of magnetism, that 
it is reasonable to conclude that this is the agency by which 
these results are produced. To which I reply : — 

1. No effects of this hind are known to have been produced, 
until the system had been previously operated upon, and ren* 
dered highly susceptible by pathetism. 

This fact, alone, is sufficient to forbid the assumption, that 
the mere magnetic forces constitute the agency by which 
these results are produced. With a galvanic battery life may 
be annihilated from the body ; but, no one was ever put into 
a real state of somnium, or somnipathy, by a battery, till the 
system had been previously pathetised. We know, that va- 
rious effects may be produced upon the physical organs, even 
after death, by galvanism ; but nothing resembling the pheno- 
mena I have described in the preceding chapter, were ever 
induced by electricity. 

If it be said that " Magnetism, in an organised form," pro- 
duces these results, I might ask, what magnetism is in an or- 
ganised form ? and what gives it this organisation ? If it is 
life, then there is something in animal life which controls the 
magnetic forces, as I have already shown. If magnetism has 
a different form in living bodies from what it has in any other 
substances, it must be owing to the vital forces ; these, there- 
fore, cannot be magnetism. 

2. The magnetic forces reciprocally affect each other. — 
That is, the positive pole in magnetism attracts the negative. 
Two pieces of iron differently magnetised, equally attract each 
other. But we have seen, that in pathetising, though the sub- 
ject is attracted by the operator, he, himself, produces no 
such effects upon the latter. Nor, indeed, could such an ef- 
fect be anticipated agreeably to one of the first laws of nature. 
We have seen that one must be the agent, the other the sub- 
ject, and if the subject could affect the agent, to the same ex- 
tent he, himself, is affected, it would be in direct opposition 



THEORY OF PATHETISM. 105 

to the well known course and constitution of things. Nothing 
is known of the electrical laws, by which it could be shown, 
why the physical attraction between the operator and patient 
should not be reciprocal, if this agency were magnetism; nor 
why the former should not be able to attract his patient, so as 
to raise his body, entirely, against the force of its own gravi- 
tation. It is well known, that the patient, in some cases, 
may be so strengthened and excited by pathetism, that he 
will be able to lift more than his own weight. But, in such 
cases, no one was ever raised, entirely, by these forces, 
which, however, the operator should be able to do, if the mag- 
netic forces constitute the agency by which he attracts the 
limbs or muscles of his patient. And in this case, if the oper- 
ator were to place his patient alone in a boat a few rods from 
himself, on shore, should he not be able to draw him that dis- 
tance over the water ? Why not, if this attraction be mag- 
netism ? Nor is this all ; if this agency be magnetism, it 
should be just as easy for an operator to magnetise a piece of 
iron by making the passes over it, as it is to affect a living 
body in this way. But we all know, that this is not, by any 
means, the case. The power which the operator is able, 
many times, to exert over his patient, is truly astonishiHg; 
and yet this same influence, when directed to a few minute 
iron filings, is not sufficient to produce the least imaginable 
effect. And, though we know that electricity may be evolved 
by the living body, sometimes in sufficient degrees so as to ef- 
fect the electrometer, and even to give off sparks, yet, these 
same bodies are not any the more susceptible to pathetism, on 
.this account, alone, nor do they seem to possess any more 
than ordinary power for inducing the sleep in others. And be- 
sides, if it were the natural tendency of magnetism to induce 
sleep, it would always have this effect when the magnet was 
applied to the system. 

3. The radical difference in the results produced by this 
agency 7 proves that it cannot be the magnetic forces. 

The effects of the electrical forces, when they can be pro- 
duced at all, always agree, both as to their nature and in the 
laws by which they are evolved. But, by manipulation, 



106 PATHETISM. 

scarcely any two bodies can be affected alike. By the same 
process by which one may be put to sleep, another may be 
waked up; and the same fingers which suppress the action of 
one or more of the cerebral organs, excites them ; and this, 
too, when the patient is asleep. The ever varying discrepan- 
cies in the effects produced by manipulation can never be re- 
conciled with the assumption that the agency is magnetism or 
electricity. 

4. The effects produced, it may be, by the application of 
metallic substances to the living body, even before it may have 
been pathetised, do not prove the agency to be magnetism. 

Precisely the same effects have been, and may be produced 
by any other substance. Who has not heard of Perkins* 
" Tractors," of whose potency thousands and tens of thousands, 
of all ranks and profession, but a few years ago, professed to 
have experimental knowledge. Indeed, it is asserted on the 
best authority, that Perkins returned from England possessed 
of ten thousand pounds sterling, which he received for cures 
performed by the use of two small pieces of different kinds of 
metal, pointed and polished in a peculiar manner. And never, 
perhaps, were so many of the medical profession, and other 
intelligent persons, so egregiously deceived as to the true na- 
ture of any medical agency, as in the matter of those tractors. 
And at the present time, so general has this conviction be- 
come, that these tractors seem never to be mentioned but in 
derision, and to remind the unwary how easy it is to be led 
astray by deductions drawn from facts of this kind. 

It was assumed by Perkins and his disciples, that the influ- 
ence of those metallic points was electrical, and this accounted 
most satisfactorily for numerous cures performed by them, 
some of which were, indeed, of a most extraordinary charac- 
ter. But Dr. Haygarth was the first to suggest, I believe, that 
wooden tractors would, probably, have a similar effect; and 
accordingly Dr. Falconer selected five persons for an experi- 
ment, who were labouring under chronic rheumatism in the 
hip, knee and wrist. Wooden tractors had been prepared, 
and painted to resemble those made of metal. Their first 
trial was made January 7, 1799, and proved, of course, success- 



THEORY OF PATHETISM. 107 

fuL Three were much benefited. One /elt his knee warm- 
er, and could walk much better. Another was easier for nine 
hours till he went to bed, and then his pain returned. An- 
other had a tingling sensation for two hours. The next day, 
the metallic tractors were employed with the same effect as 
that of the preceding day. 

This led to further experiments of a similar kind ; and they 
were continued, until the physicians became fully satisfied, 
that the wooden tractors were of the same utility with the 
metallic, provided the patients supposed them metallic. 

Similar experiments were shortly made at Edinburgh, and 
the result was the same. A servant girl, afflicted with a most 
acute head-ache, which had rendered her nights altogether 
restless for nearly a fortnight, readily submitted to be pointed 
at with these wooden tractors. The operators moved them 
round her head, but never touched her. In a few minutes she 
felt a chilliness in the head ; in a minute or two more, she 
felt as though cold water was running down the temples, and 
the pain was diminished ; in ten minutes more she declared 
that the head-ache was entirely gone; and the next day she 
returned to express her thanks to her benefactors for the good 
sleep she enjoyed through the night. 

It is to be regretted that the medical profession did not profit 
by this discovery, instead, as they seem to have done, turning 
the whole subject into ridicule, and attributing cures really 
performed to a mere imaginary cause, that never had any real 
existence. Though some of them thought, no doubt, that by 
referring all that was done to the " imagination" they had giv- 
en the true explanation of these phenomena, and placed the 
subject where it would never again be agitated by the expres- 
sion of any doubt. 

Perkins attributed the influence of his tractors to electricity, 
— the physicians, after the wooden tractors were found equally 
efficacious, attributed it to the imagination of the patient. — 
Neither party has given the true version of the mystery. The 
facts detailed in the preceding pages, as well as the history of 
these tractors, are abundantly sufficient to show, how it is 
that the mind creates or transfers relations from one subject 



108 PATHETISM. 

to another, and by which the susceptibility becomes affected 
according to the mental apprehensions, and not according to 
the real qualities of those things to which the relation may 
have been transferred, as I have already shown. Indeed, 
there is enough in the facts connected with Perkins' tractors 
to annihilate, for ever, the notions which have prevailed with 
regard to animal magnetism, or the influence of a " universal 
fluid" over the living body, which is exerted, and modified, 
merely by manipulation or the mental efforts of the operator. 

5. Its effects on animals. 

It is worthy of notice, that though this agency has so long 
borne the name of " animal magnetism," no effects have ever 
been produced upon animals which amount to any thing at 
all. We have seen, that animals have a degree of suscepti- 
bility which is peculiar to the living body, but nothing upon 
which you can operate by the magnetic forces. But if this 
agency be magnetism, there is nothing to hinder its effects on 
animals, in as great a variety of degrees, as on human beings. 
We should not only be able to put them to sleep so that they 
could not hear, see, taste or feel, but should also cause them 
to walk, if not to talk, in this state. 

If it be objected, that animals have not the cerebral organs 
for the same manifestations, then it is admitted, that this in- 
fluence is something more than magnetism ; it is one which 
is peculiar to cerebral developments. Thus admitted, I do 
not see what objection could be successfully urged against the 
preceding theory. 

6. The nerves are non-conductors of electricity. 

I have already adduced a number of admitted facts, in the 
Chapter on susceptibility and sympathy, which can never be 
reconciled to the assumption, that this influence, whatever it 
may be, is evolved, received and transmitted by the nerves. — 
And I may now add, that if the nerves should be found to be 
non-conductors of electricity, this question must be considered 
settled. 

The following account of a paper recently read before the 
Royal Society, by Dr. James Stark, is from the London Athe- 
naeum for March 4, 1843 : 



THEORY OF PATHETISM. 109 

"The author gives the result of his examinations, hoth mi- 
croscopical and chemical, of the structure and composition of 
the nerves; and concludes, that they consist in their whole 
extent, of a congeries of memhraneous tubes, cylindrical in 
their form, placed parallel to one another, and united into 
fasciculi of various sizes; but, that neither these fasciculi, nor 
the individual tubes, are enveloped by any filamentous tissue ; 
that these tubular membranes are composed of extremely mi- 
nute filaments, placed in a strictly longitudinal direction, in 
exact parallelism with each other, and consisting of granules 
of the same kind as those which form the base of all the solid 
structure of the body; and thit the matter which fills the 
tubes is of an oily nature, differing in no essential respect 
from butter or soft fat; and remaining of a fluid consistency, 
during the life of ihe animal, or while it retains its natural 
temperature, but becoming granular, or solid, when the ani- 
mal dies, or its temperature is much reduced. As oily sub- 
stances are well known to be non-conductors of electricity, and 
as the nerves have been shown, by the experiments of BischofF, 
to be among the worst possible conductors of this a^eni, the 
author contends, that the nervous agency can be neither elec- 
tricity nor galvanism, nor any property related to these pow- 
ers." 

And we should probably arrive at the same result, from a 
similar examination of the other tissues, and the fluids of the 
living body. The blood has been said to be strongly impreg- 
nated with iron, but it has never been satisfactorily proved. — 
But even if it were so, this fact would not assist the magnetic 
theory. We do not find that the blood is attracted by the 
magnetic any more than the nervous matter; and indeed, it 
would be easy to show, that if this agency were electricity or 
magnetism, surrounded as we constantly are, with such quan- 
tities of metallic substances, it would he next to impossible to 
restore either health or life, or to avoid, without the greatest 
trouble, the ever attracting influences which they would bo 
constantly exciting over us. 
2. Is it a Nervous Fluid ? 

Are the effects produced by manipulating the human system, 
which appear in sleep, and mental excitements, caused by the 
communication of a neuraura, or fluid, from the operator, and 
received into the nervous system of the patient ? The cau- 
tion now under notice, is not, whether there is not what has 
been called a fluid, or substance, exhaled from the cxircmi- 

Iv 



110 PATHETISM. 

ties of the nerves, though the highest medical authorities ad- 
mit that if such a fluid exists, it is of so subtile a consistence, 
as never yet to have been detected, either by taste, sight or 
smell Nay, they further admit, that the constituent princi- 
ples of this liquid are perfectly unknown, as they cannot be 
rendered visible by art, or proved by experiment.* But it is 
assumed, that such a fluid must exist, because, on making a 
ligature on a nerve, the effects of volition or sensation are sus- 
pended. There may, indeed, be a fluid peculiar to the veins, 
arteries, muscles, the viscera, and indeed the osseous parts of 
the system. 

Nor is the present enquiry as to whether there are certain 
exhalations from the surface of the human body, of carbon, or 
carbonic acid gas, or a peculiar oderous substance. What we 
wish to ascertain, is, whether the brain or nervous system 
eliminates a fluid, which is received into the system of the 
subject, who is affected by pathetism ? When the fingers are 
applied to the cerebral organs, and the subject manifests any 
given emotion, is that emotion excited by the reception of a 
nervous substance from the hand of the operator ? Or when 
one operates upon another, (as it is said,) by his will, merely, 
is there in this case, a transmission of any fluid or substance 
from the nerves of the operator, inlo the nerves of the patient? 

The following are some of the reasons which incline me to 
the negative of this question : — 

1. The results produced without any physical contact, and 
without any effort of the wilh 

It is susceptible of the clearest demonstration, that sleep, 
for instance, maybe induced without any physical contact, or 
any mental effort of the will of another, whatever. And so 
of many of the results already described in the preceding chap- 
ter. To suppose the transmission of a fluid in the case of the 
wooden tractors, or in the case of the non-magnetised tree of 
Mesmer, is perfectly preposterous. When the patient touch- 
ed a tree that had not been magnetised, he was seized with 
convulsions ; but when he came in contact with the tree upon 
which the operator assumed to have thrown the magnetic fluid, 
• Dr. Hooper. 



THEOKY OF PATHETISM. Ill 

he was not affected at all ! No wonder the French commis- 
sioners put the seal of their condemnation upon Mesmer's the- 
ory.* 

Take the case of the cure of the cancer, effected by the ap- 
plication of the hand of a corpse. Is the nervous fluid trans- 
mitted from the hand of a dead man ? Or, the cure performed 
by the East Indian. Who can believe, that in these and the 
thousands of other similar cases, the change was effected by 
the transmission of a nervous fluid ? And so of the method 
recommended for testing what has been called the "impres- 
sibility" of persons to the u neurauric influence." The patient 
is directed to take hold of an iron rod or bar, held in the hand 
of the operator. If he feels any sensation in his hand or arm, 
the " neuraura" is said to have been transmitted from the 
hand of the operator, by means of the metallic conductor, into 
the arm or hand of the subject. And I have seen numbers of 
the medical profession operating in this way ; and when they 
found persons thus affected, they have taken it for granted, 
that a nervous current was thus received by the patient from 
the operator. And during this time, they seem never to have 
once thought of the wooden tractors', and what the disciples 

* When Dr. B. ? the originator of what is called the Neurauric theory, 
was in this city, in the fall and winter of 1842, the following incidents 
occurred. He had a highly susceptible subject ; and whom he had im- 
pressed with a deep antipathy against, an operator whom I will call 
Mr. S. It so happened, that the Dr. was invited, one evening, with his 
subject, to a house where there was a person whom Mr. S. had pathe- 
tised some three months before. And, of course, his subject took it 
into his head to become very much convulsed on coming near the per- 
son whom he thought Mr. S. had. operated upon, and he was so much 
affected, that the Dr. found it somewhat difficult to relieve him. The 
reason assigned was, that he could not touch or even come near per- 
sons who had been operated upon by Mr. S., as the neuraura given off 
by them was so offensive to him! A few evenings after, Mr. 3., (un- 
known to the Dr. or his subject) came in contact with the latter, sat by 
his side, and put his hands upon him, but it produced no effects at all. 
This is one of many other facts which could be given showing the fal- 
lacy of the Dr's. assumptions about the transmission of a nervous cur- 
rent. If his subject was affected in the first case, as he thought he was 
by a nervous current from the patient operated on by Mr. S., why was 
he not still more affected when he came in contact with Mr. S. himself? 
Answer, because, in the first case an influence was apprehended, in the 
other it was not. In the]first case, effects were produced without any 
physical contact ; in the other there was physical contact, but no effects 
Sollowedasthe result. 



112 PATHETISM. 

of this theory will say, when they come to find out that the 
same feeling in the hand or arm of the subject may be induced 
with a wooden rod as well as with a metallic one, and, indeed, 
without any rod at all, or any contact with the operator, re- 
mains to be seen. Something must be allowed, of course, for 
the habits to which patients may have been trained. If they 
have been accustomed to a metallic rod, they will be most af- 
fected by that instrument ; and the same remark may be 
made of ivory, wood, or anything else. 

But, that persons often sink into a state of real somnipathy, 
without any influence from physical contact or the will of an- 
other, is a matter of certainty. I have known persons to fall 
into this state, partially, who had never been pathetised, 
merely by seeing me operate on another; and, times without 
number, have I had my patients iall into this state, when 
they have been in the same room, or in the same dwelling 
where they knew I was operating upon others, when I had 
no volition at all upon the subject. Only the present week, a 
patient on whom I had not operated for more than six months, 
happened to be present while I was pathetising another; and 
though she was decidedly opposed to going to sleep herself, 
and though I did not wish her to fall into this state, yet, she 
did so. And what was remarkable, when asleep, she refused 
to let me touch her for the purpose of waking her up; and 
after remaining in this state all night, she remembered nothing 
of what had happened, on waking up the next morning. Her 
opposition to being pathetised arose from her dread of ridi- 
cule; but we see from this case how it is, that the mind of a 
person overcomes the susceptibility, and induces sleep, with- 
out any will on the part of another, and indeed, in some cases, 
even against the wishes of the patient himself. 

But I may be referred to cases like the following: — the pa- 
tient is blindfolded, and the operator merely brings his fingers 
within an inch or so of any particular organ, and its function 
is excited. Or, the patient places his finger near any given 
organ in the head of another, and his own mind becomes af- 
fected. 

To this I answer : 



THEORY OF PATHETISM. 113 

(I.) If the excitement of the separate organs is caused by 
the actual transmission of a fluid, the results should always be 
the same; that :s, the emotions excited in one subject should 
be the same as those excited from precisely the same place in 
the head of another. But this is not the case; for though the 
cerebral organs may be excited without contact, in some sub* 
jects, yet the same feelings are not always excited from the 
same locations, in different heads. These discrepancies can 
be accounted for, only, by the laws of sympathy before de- 
scribed. 

(2.) Exciting the cerebral organs without contact, no more 
proves the transmission of a fluid, than the relief of pain, or 
sleep, induced without contact. 

(3.) The cases in which the cerebral organs can be control- 
led by pathetism, to any considerable degree, are very few; 
and hence, it is hardly safe to deduce a general law from these 
few cases. 

(4.) Among the subjects susceptible of cerebral excitement, 
by manipulation, the number is fewer still whose organs can 
be controlled without any contact ; and the world over, per- 
haps, not one individual was ever found, in whom each of the 
organs could be excited without contact. But, if one organ 
may be excited in this way, and if there be an actual trans- 
mission of a fluid into the brain of the subject, it is plain, that 
we should be able to excite one organ as well as another. But 
this is not, by any means, the case. 

2. Effects produced on idiots and infants. 

Every operator must have noticed, how much more difficult 
it is to affect infants and idiots, than it is adults, and persons 
in whom the cerebral organs are fully developed. But, if a 
fluid be actually transmitted, why should it not be received 
with equal readiness into the heads of idiots and children ? — 
Infants, who have all the organs proportionably large, are not 
(other things being equal,) so easily affected as adults. Nor, 
indeed, am I aware that there has ever been an instance, 
where the cerebral organs have been separately excited in in- 
fants. But why not? Why should not the linger of the ope- 
rator transmit the neuraura to the organ of Benevolence or 



114 PATHETISM. 

Self-Esteem, in a brain six months old, as easily as into one 
twenty -five or thirty years ? The true reason is, these effects, 
in many cases, depend much upon the mental apprehensions 
of the subject, as I have already stated in the preceding the* 
ory. 

3. The different results from the same locations, and the 
same results from different locations. 

For instance: in one subject Combativeness is excited by 
touching the " bridge of the nose," so called; in another, by 
touching the muscles in the under lip; in another, by touch- 
ing the scapula ; and in another, by touching one of the ringers 
or teeth I Can any one, in his senses, believe these results to 
be produced by the transmission of a fluid ? 

But, to get rid of this difficulty, an advocate of the fluid 
theory tells us, that in these cases the patient is under the 
control of the operator's will, and, therefore, these results 
are not to be depended upon ! Just as much as the man who 
makes this objection, and no more. I have operated on hun- 
dreds, and, I may say, thousands of cases, where I know that 
the subjects were no more under the influence of my will, in 
the sense above supposed, than any other person whom I 
never saw. I have put them to sleep by my will, as it is 
called, and without it— I have examined this agency in every 
imaginable aspect, and tested it in every conceivable manner 
possible, and affirm what I know, when I say, that I have in- 
duced these different results from persons who were not asleep, 
and from others who were, and yet, they were not caused or 
modified by my will, in the least conceivable degree. The 
inference, to my own mind, is irresistible, that the notion of a 
fluid transmitted from the operator to the subject, is utterly 
unfounded. 

How could a subject be influenced by my will, when I had 
no will about the result, as to what it should or would be ? 
The truth is, many operators have, unquestionably, been most 
egregiously deceived as to many things they have attributed 
to their own wills. How the susceptibility is controlled by 
the will, and how the will and the susceptibility reciprocally 
act upon each other, I have already s^own. But, to assume 



THEORY OF PATHETISM. 115 

that, when I touch the same organs in three different subjects, 
and they every one manifest a different result, one must be 
more in love with theories than I desire to be, to believe that 
the results are either caused by the transmission of a fluid, or 
that they are the results of my own volitions, when I know 
that I exerted no will in the cases at all, and the patients 
were no more controlled by my will than the chairs on which 
they sat. 

4. The immediate agencies for affecting the mind, must, in 
all cases, be the same. 

Titillation of the feet or sides, excites the organs of mirth. 
Is there, in such cases, a fluid transmitted ? And what is the 
difference between the agency by which mirth is excited, 
either by tickling the soles of the feet, or by applying the fin- 
gers to the organs of mirth in the head ? A tread upon a 
gouty toe, not unfrequently excites the organs of Combative- 
ness. Is there a fluid transmitted in such cases ? 

How often do we feel our Hope, Faith, Courage, Devotion, 
Love, and Benevolence excited, by what we hear said in a 
public assembly ; and in this way, thousands of organs are all 
excited at the same moment. Is there a fluid transmitted in 
such cases ? Who can believe it ? 

But I might ask, what excites emotion in any case ? What 
is the immediate agency which excites feeling of any kind ? 
If it be by a fluid eliminated in one case, why not in all? and 
if the hand transmits this nervous current or fluid, on applying 
it to the head, how is it to be rationally accounted for, that 
this fact was never discovered before the nineteenth century ? 
How has it come to pass, that among the millions of millions 
who have had their hands upon each other's cerebral organs, 
since the world began, not one of them ever received this fluid 
in any perceptible degree, before the year 1841 ? Really, to 
swallow such an assumption, one needs an organ of Marvel- 
lousness, to say the least, much larger than the one possessed 
by the writer of these pages. 

The truth of the case is, most who have ever manifested 
any interest in the investigation of this subject, under what- 
ever name it has been presented, have taken it for granted, all 



116 PATHETISMo 

along, that there must be a magnetic or nervous fluid actually 
transmitted in order to produce these results, because those 
who have gone before have said so. And thinking of no other 
way for solving all the phenomena which followed the process 
of manipulation, we have readily adopted the crude notions of 
others. And this is the more remarkable, when we examine 
the results of the wooden tractors, together with the history 
of Mesmer's operations, and observe what an abundance of 
facts they present, which go directly to annihilate the fluid 
theory. A few of these facts the reader will have seen in the 
foregoing pages ; and if, after digesting these, he can make 
out an explanation more to his mind than the one presented 
in the present work, let him not withhold the light which It 
may be in his power to shed upon this intricate subject 



CHAPTER VIII, 



PATHETIS1NG. 



From an examination of the principles laid down in the 
preceding chapter, an answer will have been obtained to the 
question so frequently asked, "Have all persons the necessary 
power for pathetising ?" It is plain, that this power depends, 
not on the health and character of the operator merely. There 
are many assisting and disturbing causes, and the whole must 
be considered together, before we shall be able to judge with 
any tolerable accuracy as to the power of any one to produce 
any given results. Some things depend upon the operator, 
others upon the patient, and others, still, upon the persons or 
circumstances with which they may be surrounded during the 
operation. 

Before coming to particulars as to this process, it may be 
necessary to explain, that by a pass is simply meant the act 
of passing the hand over any part of the syslem. This is done 
with the fingers loosely extended, and moved downward quite 
lightly over the head or limbs. Reverse passes are made up- 
wards. 

The nerves of sensation are more fully developed in the 
hands, and hence the fingers become the principal organs of 
touch, so called ; and the Sacred Scriptures recognise its use 
in the communication of blessings, as when the patriarch Ja- 
cob placed his hands upon the heads of Joseph's children, and 
pronounced his blessing upon them. The attempt to excite 
kind feelings in the mind of a friend, is usually accompanied 
by taking him by the hand and looking him in the eye. In 
pathetising, therefore, the hand becomes the principal instru- 
ment for exerting this agency, and applying its influence to 
different parts of the system. 



118 PATHETISM. 

1. The Operator. 

It could not be supposed to be a matter of indifference with 
persons wishing to be treated by pathetisra, whether the per- 
son who is to perform this operation be qualified, or not. No 
person willingly trusts his health with one whom he, himself, 
considers a quack. Let us notice, then, a few things, of which 
we should wish to be well satisfied, before submitting to this 
method of treatment. 

1. Health. Nothing can compensate for the want of sound 
health in the operator. He should not only be free from all 
constitutional or nervous difficulties, but he should be perfectly 
well. We have known a number of cases, where disease 
has been communicated from the operator to the patient. If 
the former be nervous, feeble, or sickly, as a matter of course, 
we should expect the patient to sympathise with him, and 
to become diseased, just in proportion to the influence exerted 
upon him. 

2. Temperament. Persons of what are called nervous or 
lymphatic temperaments, do not usually succeed so well in 
pathetising. The best temperament for the operator is that 
called bilious, or nervo-bilious. The sanguine, or a mixture 
of the bilious and sanguine, is also a good temperament. But 
it should be understood, that the temperament, whatever it 
may be, should be different from that of the patient. 

3. Age. The operator, of course, should be neither green 
in youth, nor decrepid with age. During the first stages of 
adolescence, the mental faculties are not sufficiently matured, 
and the physical energies but imperfectly developed. The 
vigor of manhood is the time for the full exercise of this pow- 
er, and the period when the system can best endure the exer- 
tion necessary for its application to the cure of disease. In 
youth and old age, the physical and mental strength become 
soonest exhausted, and during these periods the vital forces 
are barely sufficient to supply the wants of his own system. 

4. Mental character. Large Pity, Benevolence, Firmness, 
Self-Confidence, Concentration, Conscientiousness, and Perse- 
verance, are the necessary mental qualifications. These are 
other phrenological developments which go to constitute a 



PATHETISING. 119 

well-balanced head ; but when either of the above qualities 
are wanting, it makes a marked deficiency in the character of 
an operator. 

Much may depend on the mental disposition. He should 
be possessed, especially when operating, of undisturbed calm- 
ness, decision, and Jcindness of heart. A rough word, or the 
indulgence of any passion, while his patient is in a state of 
somnipathy, might produce serious mischiefs, and such as he 
might find it impossible to control. 

5. Good motives. Every patient, of course, possesses the 
undoubted right to judge of the motives of an operator, and 
hence our chapter would be incomplete, without a statement 
of what they should be. And besides, it has much to do with 
the success of an operation. Is it not a matter of intuition, 
that what we attempt from a sincere desire to do good, we 
prosecute with far more confidence of success, than when, 
conscience-smitten, one undertakes what he knows to be 
wrong? Every sinner, when seeking an unworthy object, is 
discouraged with more or less fear, and want of confidence ; 
and these are states of mind which are every way unfavorable 
to that quiet and self-respect, which are necessary for opera- 
tions of this kind. The more faith and expectation of success 
the better. This is a principle of the Christian religion, and 
it holds equally good of every judicious, well-meant effort, for 
the relief of human suffering. 

6. Skill. The knowledge of the pathetiser should be of this 
subject, and the laws by which it is to be applied for the cure 
of disease. The most learned and intelligent in mathematics, 
languages, medicine, and the various other branches of sci- 
ence, may be perfectly ignorant of this agency. The skill ne- 
cessary for its use, is not to be learned from ordinary works 
on human physiology or medicine. This, if we may so speak, 
is a science by itself; it has its peculiar laws, — is different 
from all other subjects in so many respects, that a man does 
not become qualified to operate merely by possessing good 
health, and a desire to do good. He should become familiar 
with the nature of the sympathic system, and study the dif- 
ferent susceptibilities, sympathies and antipathies of the living 



120 PATHETISM. 

body. He should perceive how it is, that the mind and these 
susceptibilities reciprocally affect each other. A thorough 
knowledge of Physiognomy and Phrenology are great helps, 
though not indispensable. But there is what may be called 
an aptness for this work, which enables the skilful operator 
to adapt himself to the condition, idiosyncrasy, and peculiar 
views of his patient, and by which he causes different agen- 
cies and circumstances to contribute to his assistance, in his 
attempts to relieve suffering humanity. 

7. Balance of power. The operator may be either male or 
female; but in what would be understood by nervous or sym* 
pathetic power, the operator should be superior to the patient. 
"We have seen, that positive effects are produced by establish- 
ing a positive relation between two bodies that differ in tem- 
perament, or some other physical qualities which render one 
susceptible to an influence from the other. Of course, there- 
fore, the stronger the operator may be in all those qualifica- 
tions which give an influence, either physical or mental, over 
others, the better for this agency. And so, also, when the 
system of the patient is enfeebled by disease, or worn down 
with suffering, it forms a greater contrast with the power 
which is brought to bear upon it, and the results will gene- 
rally correspond. 

2. The Patient. 

1. Temperament. We have already seen, that everything, 
as it were, depends on the susceptibility or sympathetic tern* 
perament of the patient. True, there may be but few cases 
where some slight relief could not be given, by an experienc- 
ed operator; but we do not know enough of ibis agency to 
induce the belief, that it may, at present, be considered a pan- 
acea for "all the ills that flesh is heir to." That different op- 
erators have succeeded in performing some very extraordinary 
cures, is true, and I have been successful in a few remarkable 
cases of my own; but yet we know but little of the laws of 
this agency. And this is saying no more than we might af- 
firm of the materia medica. Who has been able to tell, why 
the same medicine does not produce the same results on dif- 
erent persons, and at different times not even on the same 



PATHETISING. 12 1 

person ? Does not every thing depend upon the idiosyncrasy 
of the patient? And do we doubt the efficacy of any medi- 
cine, merely because it does not always produce the same ef- 
fects, in the same time, upon different patients, or indeed up- 
on the same patient ? 

There is a peculiarity in the temperament of those persons 
most susceptible. They generally partake, more or less, of 
what is understood by the sanguine, lymphatic, and nervous. 
Persons highly nervous, as it is called, are not the best sub- 
jects. Those in whom the above combinations seem to meet, 
are of what we should denominate a sympathetic temperament. 

2. Excitement — Quiet. All nervous or mental excitement 
in the patient, as well as in the pathetiser, are decidedly un- 
favorable. The entire system should be in a state of perfect 
quiet. The mind should be unoccupied. There should be no 
anxiety about the process, or its results. The patient should 
be previously prepared, so that, when the operation is com- 
menced, the mind may at once yield to its influence, without 
any opposing or disturbing influences. 

3. Sleep. When a state of somnipathy follows this process, 
new responsibilities are imposed upon the pathetiser. In 
cases of sickness, experiments, merely, should never be at- 
tempted ; nor should the patient be worried with questions. 
If he is properly managed, he will be able to describe his own 
case; and after some experience, that of others, without much 
difficulty. 

The time during which the sleep may be continued, must 
be determined by the case. No definite rule can be given — 
the operator should use his own judgment. A few hours, 
daily, may be sufficient. 

3. Time and place for operating. 

1. The paiient and the operator should not only be in a 
state of perfect quiet, but the process should be commenced 
where they will not be likely to be disturbed. They should 
not be entirely alone : one or more judicious friends should 
always be present, when the operator and patient are of dif- 
ferent sexes. Strangers should not be admitted. To the pre- 
sence of persons who are disagreeable to the patient, or who 

L 



122 PATHETISM. 

are obstinately set against the agency which is to be applied 
for his relief, there are insuperable objections. Deleuze, Dr. 
Rostan, and the most intelligent operators in every part of the 
world, have united in bearing this testimony.* 

No conversation should be carried on within hearing; and 
things should be so arranged, that persons may not be passing 
in and out of the room, during the sitting. 

2. The sittings should be protracted from thirty minutes to 
one hour, and should be had, as near as may be, at the same 
hours every day. They should be repeated as often as once a 
day; and when continued for thirty minutes only, they may 
be repeated a number of times during the twenty-four hours. 

4. Process of Pathetising. 

Different effects may be produced in various ways on highly 
susceptible subjects ; or, after the relation has been sufficiently 
established between the pathetiser and patient; and it should 
be remembered, that it is by no means necessary to produce 
sleep, in order to relieve one from disease or pain. 

The patient should be comfortably seated, where the head 
may recline without fatigue. He should then be directed to 
elevate his eyes, and immovably set them on something sta- 
tionary, with his mind fixed upon the certainty of the result 
which you design to produce, whether it be sleep, or the relief 
of bodily pain. The longer and the more steady his eyes and 
mind are kept thus united, in anticipation of the designed re- 
sults, the better. And in some subjects, the effects are in- 
creased by their standing up, either against the side of the 
room, or near a chair or sofa, where they may easily sit down 
if they wish to do so. 

At other times, the effects are very much increased if the 
operator sits by the side of the patient during this process, and 
holds one of his hands; or if he give him a piece of steel, or 
any substance not offensive, which the patient should hold in 
his hand. 

* " There is," says Dr. Georget, " a very essential precaution to be 
taken by those who' wish to make useful experiments. It is, to avoid 
surrounding one's self with dishonest and incredulous persons. I had 
frequently to complain of them; and my somnambulists have experi- 
enced geat tronblesfrom them, and, almost always, serious accidents." 
~-Phy$. Nerv. System, vol. 1, p. 270. 



PATHETISING. 123 

In (his manner I have put a room full of persons to sleep at 
once, and believe I could operate successfully upon twenty at 
one time, without the least inconvenience to myself. The old 
method of staring the patient in (he eyes, is highly objection- 
able, especially when the parties are strangers, and of the dif- 
ferent sexes; and the extreme mental efforts put forth by some 
operators, are as unnecessary as they are sometimes ludi- 
crous. Indeed, I am confident, that the manner o{ passing the 
hands about the persons of some patients, and gazing them in 
the eye with such barbarous tenacity, has often prevented the 
anticipated results; as I have often induced sleep in a few 
minutes by the above process, in persons, where the other 
method has failed after a dozen trials. 

Of course, the attention should not be directed from the pa- 
tient, any more than the patient's attention should be directed 
from the process used for inducing sleep, or the relief of pain. 
And the sleep, and results, will become more and more sym- 
pathetic as this process is repeated, as it must be for a length 
of time before the susceptibility will be found sufficiently de- 
veloped to be controlled, merely, by the will of the operator. 

For increasing the sympathy, and also for relieving pain, 
the passes may be made, or the hand applied in the following 
manner. Standing by the side of the patient, when reclined 
or seated as above directed, the operator should place one 
hand over the whole of the forehead, from the super orbiter 
plate upward, and the other directly above it; or, while you 
hold the right hand over the frontal region as above, place 
your thumb and middle finger directly back and a little below 
the centre of the organs marked by Gall as Caution. If you 
wish to vary the method, stand directly behind the patient, 
and place your middle fingers on the points above named : by 
this process alone sleep is often induced, and no other means 
will, in some cases, succeed so well in producing a state of 
mental tranquillity. When the patient seems to be more or 
less subdued, pass your hands gently from the coronal region 
down the sides of the head, extending them olf in a circle to 
the top of the head again. And, if you wish, you can pass 



124 PATHETISM, 

your hand slowly from the head down, inside his arms and 
hands, *end extend them off and in a circle again, to the head, 
as before. 

As a sound state of somnipathy rarely follows the first sit- 
ting, the process should be repeated till it is successful. When 
the sympathetic relation is once established, the patient will 
sink into a state of sleep, or wake up, merely by the direction 
of the operator, and frequently without any direction, if the 
patient has a distinct apprehension of what he supposes the 
operator's wishes are. 

To wake up the patient by the passes, place one hand over 
the back part of the head, covering from the portion allotted 
to Philoprogenitiveness dow r n over the cerebellum; and with 
your other hand place your two fingers upon Causality, or 
pass the hand quickly upward, over the frontal region, as if 
you wished to brush away something collected there. Or, 
standing in front of him, put your thumbs over his eyes, and 
pass them upward quickly over his forehead. Put both hands 
upon the sides of his head, and pass them upward and off 
quickly; and pass them from his hands, upward, and along 
the arms. These processes should be continued till he is per- 
fectly relieved. 

For the relief of local pain, the hand should be held and 
passed gently over the part affected. To cure the headache, 
let the patient lean his head back, so as to rest it firmly in 
your hand, your hand being sufficiently low to cover the cere- 
bellum. With your other hand, make the passes down and 
over the forehead and temples. If the pain is in the frontal 
region, cover the whole of the occipital, or those portions al- 
lotted to Approbativeness, Self-Esteem, and Firmness. For 
hypochondria and nervous derangements generally, the passes 
should be made, more or less, over the portions marked for 
Ideality and Sublimity. In all cases of fainting, languor, &c. 
the hands should be held upon the occipital region of the 
head. Many nervous difficulties may be perfectly relieved, by 
simply connecting the process of inducing sleep, with an anti- 
cipation in the mind of the patient of the certainty of the 
cure. 



PATHETISING. 125 

5. Cautions. 

On no account should the pathetiser ever become excited or 
alarmed, while operating, and especially while his patient is 
in a state of somnipathy. 

If it be found impossible to wake him up, let him alone : — 
he will come out of it in time, if left to himself. 

Sometimes patients, after being rendered highly susceptible, 
involuntarily sink into a state of sleep. This may be prevent- 
ed by the fixed will and direction of the pathetiser. Direct the 
patient, when asleep, never to sink into that state again. If 
this be not effectual, leave him to himself. You should never 
meddle with a patient, whom you find it impossible to con- 
trol. 

All excitement should always be removed, before the pa- 
tient is waked up; and great care should be taken to remove 
the excitement from each organ in which it may have been 
produced. I have known mischievous results to follow these 
excitements : they should therefore be attempted with great 
caution, and only for good and justifiable purposes. 

Nor should the stomach be loaded with food, during the ex- 
citement of alimentativeness. These excitements, of course, 
are morbid, or beyond the demands of nature, and should be 
continued but a few moments at a time. 

No liberties should be taken, or allowed, with the person 
of a somnipathist, which he would not consent to, when 
awake. It is a great injustice and breach of confidence, when 
your patient, after having trusted his life to your care, while 
in a state of unconscious slumber, wakes up and finds his flesh 
pricked with pins, and mangled in various ways, to satisfy the 
incredulity of unreasonable minds. 

It is quite common for those but partially familiar with 
this subject, to recommend and urge their friends and others 
to attempt the production of the somnipathic state, merely to 
gratify their curiosity, or to satisfy themselves of its truth. 

This is certainly wrong; I have seen many mischievous 
results from those attempts. When any injury follows the 
use of medicine which has been administered by an intelli- 
gent physician, people do not set it down to the discredit of 

L* 



126 PATHETISM. 

science, but we infer from such cases, the necessity of care 
and extensive information, by which such injuries may be 
avoided. Or, if the mischief be done by the ignorance of the 
practitioner, he is blamed, of course — and punished, it may 
be, by the tribunals of justice. 

But it is still worse when mischiefs follow from misman- 
agement of pathetism. From the deep-rooted prejudice 
which everywhere prevails against this agency, all the mis- 
chiefs which may result from its misuse, are attributed to the 
agency itself; and thus the greater injury seems to be done 
to truth, than in the cases above stated. 

I was recently called to the following case. An operator 
had succeeded in putting a person to sleep. The attempt 
had been made a number of times, and from curiosity merely. 
— But, finally, he found it impossible to remove the sleep, 
and convulsions and insanity followed. I have known a 
number of cases of this kind. The physicians and friends, of 
course, lay all this mischief to pathetism. It should be attri- 
buted to the ignorance, and in some cases to the imprudence 
of the operators. 

The most intelligent may sometimes fail; and if these are 
not always successful, it should caution others never to at- 
tempt to produce a state of feeling in another, which they 
may find themselves unable to control. If you have health, and 
a heart for this work, and have made yourself familiar with 
its laws, commence with the sick : let your efforts be made 
not to produce the sleep, nor any of its phenomena, but to re- 
lieve the suffering. Evil could scarcely be anticipated from 
such attempts provided ihe motive were what it should be, 
and the process were agreeable to the patient. 

Pathetism has to do with the sympathetic system, not of 
the operator and his patient merely, but with the nervous 
sympathies and antipathies of every other person present. 
And, the success of the operator's efforts must depend, more 
or less, on the state of feeling with which he is surrounded. 
And, it is an admitted law of this subject, that no one should 
ever attempt to operate on another, merely to satisfy an idle 
or a wicked curiosity. The motive should always be the re- 



PATHETISING. 127 

lief of the patient : or if it be for the benefit of the science, 
the attempt should be made agreeably to the rules which the 
subject itself prescribes for its own management. 

I do not disapprove of all exhibitions of the sleep; there 
are occasions enough for all benevolent and scientific purposes, 
when this phenomenon may be seen and tested, without ex- 
posing patients in the way they have been, by many hereto- 
fore. Indeed it is a subject which every one should investi- 
gate for himself, and this all may do without giving counte- 
nance to its abuse by exhibitions, in the way some of them 
have hitherto been managed. 



CHAPTER IX. 



PHRENOPATHY. 



Phrenopathy, from phrenis, mind, and paschos, to feel, ex* 
perience, to be acted upon, I have already informed the reader 
as to the reasons for applying this term to those operations on 
the human brain, by which we are enabled to control the ce- 
rebral organs through the agency of pathetism. A term is 
needed for the purpose of designating those operations which 
control the mental functions ; and this is as suitable as any 
other, if we choose to use it for this purpose. 

But, before we come to the distinguishing principles of 
Phrenopathy, it may be desirable that the reader should have 
some general account of the brain and its functions, as far as 
they seem to have been determined, heretofore, by the labors 
of previous ages. Of the discoveries of the immortal Gall, it 
is not my design to speak here. The science which he had 
the honor of founding, though still in its infancy, has well 
nigh lived down the ridicule and opposition which were for- 
merly waged against it. Had it not been true— had it not 
been founded in fact — the name, talents, and wealth, which 
have been arrayed for its annihilation, would have proved 
successful long ago ! But what a glorious triumph has Phre- 
nology achieved over the world, in arms against it! Its 
claims, as a science of the first importance, are at the pres- 
ent time generally admitted, and the best minds in the civi- 
lized world are convinced of its truth. Not a class of the 
learned can be mentioned, not a party, in religion, medicine 
or politics, but among whom we shall find numbers who 
firmly believe its truth ; and many who will acknowledge 
themselves indebted to its light, as much, or more, than to 
any other science, for the knowledge they have of themselves 



PHRENOrATHY. 129 

or the mental character of others. Indeed, we do not be- 
lieve that any other science could boast of men higher in the 
scale of intelligence or learning, than are now the firm advo- 
cates of Phrenology. 

To Dr. Gall, also, belongs the honor of shedding more light 
on the anatomy of the human brain, than, probably, to any 
other man who has ever lived ; and it would not be difficult to 
show, that numbers have since written upon the physiology 
of the nervous system, without giving that distinguished man 
due credit for the obligations they were under to his previous 
discoveries. # 

All that can be attempted here, will be, merely to give 
some general observations on the anatomy and functions of 
the encephalon, by which the reader may be the better pre- 
pared to apprehend the principles of Phrenopathy. 

1. The Relation of the Encephalon to the Human 
Body. 

We have already seen, that foetuses have been formed with- 
out any brain. Of course, they could not live long. Other 
cases have been stated, where the whole of the cerebral mass 
has been let out of the cranium, for the purpose of facilitating 
delivery, and yet, life has remained some hours afterwards. 
The fact, that foetuses are sometimes born without any brain, 
or spinal chord, does not, certainly, seem to favor the assump- 
tion, that the brain is the point from which all the nerves ori- 
ginate. It is far more probable, that the nerves of sensation, 
properly speaking, originate or commence in the extremes of 
the system, and from the surface thus transmit impressions 
up to the sensorial centre in the brain. f 

That vitality does not depend so much upon the brain as 

* Spurzheim exposed himself to this censure, as the reader will see 
by consulting Dr. Elliotson's Human Physiology, 5th London edition, 
1819, 8xo., p. 1147. 

f Dr. R. Nelson states, that on dissecting two moles, he found the 
optic nerve did not extend to the brain if these animals do nol use 
the eye, there is no necessity for connecting the eye with the brain.— 
On the same principle of nature, we I nd the fish in the celebrated Mam- 
moth Cave in Kentucky, have no eyes — simply because they have no 
use for them. 



130 PATHETISM 

many have supposed, — and, indeed,, that all the functions of 
the vital or animal economy may be carried on, for a time, 
without it, is further proved from the fact, that all the other 
parts of the body are formed, and considerably developed, even 
before the brain and spinal chord have assumed any degree of 
consistence, more than the white of an egg, and, consequent- 
ly, are utterly incapable of any functional power. Magendie 
mentions the case of a girl, who lived to the age of eleven 
years, with the use of her senses, and with feeble voluntary 
motion, but sufficient for her wants and progression. After 
death, no cerebellum nor mesocephalon could be found. In 
1673, M. Duverney removed the cerebrum and cerebellum 
from a pigeon, and found that the animal lived for some time, 
and searched for its food. Mr. Lawrence saw a child four 
days old, without any encephalon except a mere bulb, which 
was a continuation for about an inch above the foramen occi- 
pitale from the spinal chord. Its breathing and temperature 
were natural.* Mr. Ollivier saw another case of the same 
deficiency, and the child not only cried and sucked, but 
squeezed with its hand; and another is mentioned by Lolle- 
mand, which lived three days. 

Dr. Kaan, a century since, observed a frog move all its 
limbs half an hour after its head had been cut off, and even 
after its body had been divided in two. Fontana declares, that 
after removing the brain of a turtle, and entirely emptying 
the cranium, it lived six months, and walked as before. Mr. 
Flurens took both hemispheres from a chicken, and yet it 
walked, flew, shook its wings, and cleaned them with its beak, 
as before. A viper, after decapitation, moved towards a heap 
of stones where it had been accustomed to hide itself. Rede 
extracted the brain of a land tortoise, and it lived and walked 
for six months afterwards. Magendie says, " it is droll to see 
animals skip and jump about of their own accord, after you 
have taken out all their brains, a little before the optic tuber- 
cles. New born kittens tumble over in all directions, and 
walk so nimbly, if you cut out their hemispheres, that it is 

* Med. Chir. Trans, vol. v. p. 166. 



PHRENOPATHY. 131 

quite astonishing." And he speaks of a hedgehog, which 
gratified him in this way two hours after the operation ! 

We are told, that in foetuses full grown, without any ence- 
phalon, or even spinal chord, the circulation, nutrition, secre- 
tions, &c. proceed equally as in others, which, besides a spinal 
chord and ganglia, possess also a brain. These facts would 
seem conclusive against the supposition, that the brain is a 
kind of galvanic battery, which supplies vitality or nervous 
power to the other portions of the system. As it is the last 
part formed or matured, it is reasonable to suppose, that its 
relation to the body is secondary, when compared with the 
heart and other organs in that region. It is, certainly, a law 
of nature, that those organs, in living bodies, should be first 
produced and developed, whose functions are most essential 
in the vital economy; and hence, we find the formations com- 
mence with the solar plexus, the ganglia of the dorsal region, 
together with the heart and blood-vessels. And if what has 
been offered in a preceding chapter be correct, with regard to 
the peculiar functions of the ganglionic system, we may see 
why it is that there seem to be more ganglia in the dorsal and 
lumbar regions, than have been found in all the other parts of 
the system; and it w T ill explain a number of phenomena 
which have hitherto remained in the dark. As, for instance : — 

1. That the sensation of sympathy is generally felt in the 
region of the solar plexus. When this feeling is powerfully 
excited, the hand is instinctively placed upon the epigastrium. 

2. That the five external senses are sometimes, by disease, 
transposed and located in this region. In cases of catalepsy 
and trance, persons have been unable to hear or see, except 
from this region. 

3. In many cases of somnipathy, I have been unable to 
cause the patient to see or hear any thing, except from the pit 
of the stomach. 

4. A slight blow upon this region has frequently occasioned 
instant death; while severe blows upon the head, or mutila- 
tions, or even the destruction of the brain, did not immediately 
destroy life. 

5. These ganglia, and, indeed, the ganglionic system, as I 



132 PATHETISM. 

have stated before, have been found fully developed in those 
foetuses born without a brain or spinal marrow. Hence it is 
plain, that the animal or vital functions can be carried on 
without a brain, but not without the ganglia and solar plexus. 

6. It explains the reasons why the heart continues its func- 
tions after the head has been struck from the body. Dr. Bor- 
tels declares, that when he opened the chests of six men, in 
1826, immediately after decapitation, near Marbourg, he found 
the hearts beating regularly for half an hour afterwards; and, 
when languishing, they were excited by irritating the great 
sympathetic nerve, — and yet, irritation of the spinal chord had 
no effect on the heart whatever, though it did affect the mus- 
cles of the trunk. And he further informs us, that on dividing 
the cardia plexus, the action of the heart ceased instantly.* 
And after the cerebrum and cerebellum of a man had been 
entirely blown off by an explosion of firearms, the circulation 
and respiration continued for more than half an hour. 

There are many plausible reasons for supposing, that the 
different parts of the system are commenced, in the process of 
formation, independently of each other; and hence it is, that 
foetuses are born with parts wanting or redundant.! 

2. Hemispheres. 

It seems necessary that we should take cognizance of the 
division of the encephalon into two brains, as it were; for, 
like the organs of animal life, it is double, and hence the im- 
pressions made upon it, though they are, in fact, double, are 
perceived as one, the same as the double impressions made 
upon the eyes and ears are one. Hence, all the mental func- 
tions must be double, so that when we speak of an organ, the 
term includes two, one in each hemisphere of the brain. This 
accounts for the fact, that when one side of the brain is some- 
times seriously injured, the effects do not appear in the mind. 
And it will be seen from it, also, how careful we should be in 
performing experiments in Phrenopathy, as, if the fingers are 

* Bichat says he had observed no effects on dividing the cardiac fila- 
ments. 

f We have accounts of parts of foetuses found in the bodies of males, 
one nine, and another some twenty-six years of age. 



PHRENOPATHY. 133 

not placed on precisely the same organs on both sides of the 
head, there must, of couse, be confusion in the results. 

2. Decussation. 

The nerves extending from the brain to the body, or from 
the body to the brain, cross each other in the medulla oblon- 
gata, so that one side of the brain answers to the opposite side 
of the body ; and though cases do often happen where the op- 
posite side of the body is affected from that of the head, as in 
paralysis, yet this does not always occur. We have exam- 
ples of ague, affecting one entire perpendicular half of the sys- 
tem; and of persons who sweated in one entire perpendicular 
half; and of persons becoming pale and emaciated in one en- 
tire perpendicular half, while the other remained healthy. 

3. Sections of the Encephalon. 
1. The Cerebellum. 

Though this portion of the cerebral system seems to be a 
distinct brain of itself, and therefore peculiar in its functions, 
it is usually considered as a part of the cerebrum, or generally 
in connection with it. The light which Phrenology and Ve- 
nesection have shed upon its functions, would seem to have 
fully settled this question beyond all possible doubt ; and yet, 
we have recently heard of attempts, under the name of " Neu- 
rology," to prove that Gall, Magendie, and a host of other 
anatomists, whose labors have so much enlightened the world, 
were most egregiously mistaken in their views of the cerebel- 
lum, and that this portion of the cerebral system, instead of 
having any thing to do with the sexual propensity, is appro- 
priated principally, or wholly, to the function of nutrition. 

To give any considerable proportion of what might be said, 
showing the real functions of this organ, w r ould fill a volume 
by itself. The following may be taken as the summary of 
what seems, now, to have been generally demonstrated, by 
Phrenology and pathological investigations. It is from Dr. 
Jamison, a physician of high distinction in England : — 

" Since I became acquainted with the science of phrenology, 
some years ago, my attention has been directed to the condi- 
tion of the cerebellum in those individuals who have consult- 
ed me for impotence, and in others. I have attentively ob- 

II 



134f PATHETISM. 

served and studied a great number of eases, and am led to re- 
gard the following conclusions as correct. I hope their pub- 
lication may have the effect of directing medical practition- 
ers more closely to observe the undoubted connection which 
exists between the state of the genital organs and the cerebel- 
lum, and a disease which in its various degrees is much more 
prevalent than is commonly imagined, and is the cause of a 
great many evils. 

1. The sexual passion has its seat in the cerebellum, and 
is energetic or the reverse in proportion to the size and tone 
of this organ. 

2. Smallness of the cerebellum, much inequality of its 
lobes, and deficiency of its tone, are the cause of impotence. 

3. When the cerebellum is very small, impotence is per- 
manent. 

4. When the cerebellum is small, it soon suffers in tone if 
made to preform its functions with ordinary frequency. 

5. When one lobe of the cerebellum is small and the other 
large in a man, it is sometimes the case, that he, at in- 
tervals distant in proportion to the size of the large lobe, 
performs the generative act imperfectly, until the large lobe 
which had been exhausted, recovers its tone. 

6. When the cerebellum is very large and is much exerted, 
as it usually is in such cases, it becomes impaired in tone, 
and impotence is sometimes the result; but the generative 
act may be well performed by a large cerebellum, even when 
impaired in tone. 

7. Average endowment of the cerebellum is most favoura- 
ble to permanent potency. 

8. When the cerebellum becomes much deficient in tone, 
if it be not soon cured, the spinal marrow and its nerves, the 
organic nervous system, the intellect and moral feelings, are 
successively debilitated. 

9. Deficiency of tone of the cerebellum in the male or female 
is often transmitted to the offspring. 

10. Impaired tone of the cerebellum is the cause of sperma- 
torrhea. 

11. The size of the genital organs exercises no influence 
on their activity or vigour; they are often inert when large, 
and vigorous when small. 

12. The father of a monstrosity, an accouat of the post- 
mortem examination of which I published some time ago, 
had the cerebellum small and debilitated, and had also sper- 
matorrhea; he was permanently weak in the genital organs, 
and was the means of making me acquainted with many 
similar cases, and their peculiar symptoms. His wife be- 
came jealous and went mad, in consequence of believing that 



PITEENOPATHY. 135 

he was unfaithful, and that what was the result of debility, 
was caused by dislike of her. She died in a lunatic asylum. 
These facts, in connexion with remark No. 8, render it prob- 
able, in my opinion, that the subjects of abnormal organiza- 
tion are the products of parents whose generative apparatus 
was diseased, and general health consequently impaired. I 
think the condition of the cerebellum in the parents of mon- 
strosities should be observed. 

13. Permanent or frequent impotence, or even continued 
partial debility of the genital organs, in men who have large 
self-esteem and destructiveness, and benevolence or conscien- 
tiousness not very large, often produces strongly selfishness 
and malignity; and also cunning and falsity; for though se- 
cretiveness should not be large, it is so much exercised in 
these cases to conceal the symptoms of their disease and pre- 
serve the reputation of virility, that it operates as if it pre- 
dominated in size. This is in accordance with the remark of 
Dr. Cox, " that it seemed to be a law of the human constitu- 
tion, that when any of the faculties is pained or disagreeably 
active," destructiveness instantly comes into play. Here am- 
ativeness is mortified, and self-esteem and love of approbation 
disagreeably active, and destructiveness becomes consequently 
excited, secretiveness being active also, malevolence, cunning 
and falsehood, result. 

14. Over exertion or exhaustion of the cerebellum robs ad- 
hesiveness and combativeness of their power, and thus causes 
cowardice. 

15. Whatever exhausts the power of the constitution, 
seems not only to diminish the power of combativeness, but 
also to stimulate cautiousness. 

16. In some men an activity of the cerebellum greater than 
what we would expect from their temperaments and devel- 
opments, may exist for a long time without producing impo- 
tence; here it seems to appropriate more than its own share 
of the nervous energy of the system ; the other organs of the 
body suffering a diminution of power, apparently that the 
generative apparatus may obtain an increase. 

17. The cerebellum is in general too much exercised in the 
married state. 

IS. When the cerebellum is too much exercised, no matter 
what the size of it may be, it becomes impaired in tone. 

19. Men and women who have the cerebellum much below 
the average size should not marry. 

20. Impotence is curable in all cases but where the cere- 
bellum is very small and disorganized. 

21. Fluor albus is caused by deficient tone of the cerebellum 
in many cases. 



138 PATHETISM. 

22. Deficient size and tone of the cerebellum in males or 
females is a cause of want of liveliness, and sometimes of 
melancholy and madness. 

23. Disease of the cerebellum is often the real cause of ab- 
surd eccentricities. 

24. The treatment of impotence should always be directed 
with a view of its origin from the cerebellum." 

I doubt the correctness of the conclusions numbered 2 and 
20, without some qualification, as I am convinced that impo- 
tence is often caused by the sameness in the temperaments ; 
and if so, it cannot be cured, even where there is no difficulty 
in the cerebellum. 

2. Base of the Brain. 

Facts are at hand, also, to prove that the cerebellum and 
lower portions of the cerebrum, are particularly related to the 
muscles and limbs. Indeed, it would not be unreasonable to 
infer this fact, from what is known of the functions appropri- 
ate to other portions ; for, as the upper and frontal organs an- 
swer for intellectual functions, we might suppose that the 
lower portions would hold relations with the animal and lower 
parts of the system. And hence we find, that a severe blow 
upon the lower and back part of the head, rendered a man 
paralytic in his arms and legs. And it may be noticed, that 
paralysis of the lower part of the body, even when arising 
from lesion in the corresponding portions of the brain, does not 
affect the mental functions at all. 

3. Coronal Region. 

It has long been known to Phrenologists, that the lower the 
organs in the head, the more their functions corresponded with 
the propensities common to the animal creation. And expe- 
riments in Phrenopathy have tended to show, most conclu- 
sively, that one pair of the same organs are more elevated 
and refined in their functions than the pair below it. Thus, I 
find, the first pair of Amativeness are common to animals ; 
the pair above appropriate to intellectual enjoyment. The 
lower organs of Comparison take cognizance of things, the 
upper ones compare ideas; the lower organs of Causality are 
exercised on things, the upper on metaphysical subjects. And 



PERENOPATHY. 137 

it is a remarkable fact, that from mere animal instincts, 
which relate to the preservation of life, and selfish gratifica- 
tion, the organs not only ascend in the head, but also in the 
nature of their functions, till we come to the highest, which 
take cognizance of our relation to the Deity, and a future 
state, not excepting, perhaps, one which is appropriate to cal- 
culating, or perceiving future contingencies I 

4. Frontal Region. 

Here we find those organs which are appropriated to sci- 
ence, intelligence, and knowledge of men and things, and 
which distinguish men from all other living animals. And, 
not only so, but the size of some of these organs (others in 
proportion) distinguish the intellectual powers of one mind 
from another. 

5. Occipital Region. 

In this portion of the brain we find the balance of the fron- 
tal region. A blow upon the lateral portion of the occiput, 
has been known to restore the intellectual functions which a 
previous blow upon the opposite region in the forehead had 
destroyed. Here are those organs whose functions control the 
muscles, and give the power of physical resistance. 

The connection between the brain and stomach has already 
been alluded to. The effects of a blow on the head, or from 
swinging, or turning round, or the motions of the vessel at 
sea, are well known. These arise in the stomach, from sym- 
pathy with the brain. And, in like manner, the brain is af- 
fected by the state of the stomach, as in cases of indigestion, 
poison, and intoxication. 

The pathology of the heart is, in many cases, intimately 
connected with the state of the brain. Hypertrophy of the 
heart disposes to apoplexy.* Dr. Hudson, of Navon, has pub- 
lished a valuable paper, showing, most conclusively, that de- 
lirium is connected with, or produced by, certain states of the 
heart in fever. The excitement of some of the cerebral organs 
increases the action of the heart, as for instance, fear or ex- 

* An able paper on this subject may be seen in the Dublin Med. Jour. 
May, 1840. 



138 PATHETISM. 

cessive joy. The same is true of the liver and lower intes- 
, tines. I have known cases, where intense mental excitement 
has produced action of the kidneys and defecation. 

4. Excitement of the separate Cerebral Organs by 
External Applications. 

It was long since demonstrated by Professor Muller, that 
some of the organs of external sense could be excited by gal- 
vanism. He says, 

" The stimulus of galvanism excites, in all the organs of 
sense, different sensations in each organ, namely, the sensation 
proper to it. In the eye, a feeble galvanic current excites the 
special sensation of the optic nerve, namely, that of light. In 
the auditory nerve, electricity produces the sensation of sound. 
It has not, at present, been much observed, whether peculiar 
smells are produced by the application of galvanism to the or- 
gans of smell. Ritter, however, has perceived them; and it 
is a known fact, that the electricity excited by friction, gives 
rise to the smell of phosphorous." 

This is, probably, the first account ever published of any 
excitement of the cerebral functions, by direct external appli- 
cations to any part of the system.* Dr. W. PIxillip declared, 
many years since, that any substance, in its nature stimulat- 
ing, applied to the brain about the origin of the nerves, excites 
contraction of the muscles; and a substance, in its own nature 
stimulating, excites the heart and capillaries when applied to 
any part of the brain or spinal chord, if applied to a consider- 
able portion of it. 

And, considering how long these facts have been before the 
world, and, also, what has been known for years, of the agen- 
cy of pathetism, it is marvellous that the susceptibility of the 
cerebral organs to this influence was not tested many years 
ago. 

Bichat describes a series of experiments which demonstrate, 
as he thinks, that cerebral action does not directly interrupt 
the organic functions. He says : — 

" Acephalous foetuses, while in the uterus, possess an or- 

* I quote from Walker's Pathology, p. 131. The extract from Mul- 
ler first appeared, I believe, in 1834. 



PHRENOPATHY. 139 

ganic life altogether as active as the most perfectly formed 
foetus; indeed, they sometimes discover, at birth, preternatu- 
ral proportion of increase. This I have had an opportunity of 
witnessing in two foetuses of this description, that were 
brought to my amphitheatre. Not only was the face better 
developed, as is always the case, because the cerebral vascu- 
lar system being void, that of the face is proportionably in- 
creased; but all the parts, those of generation particularly, 
which generally before birth are scarcely evolved, displayed a 
correspondent plenitude of development. Nutrilion, &c., are 
therefore as active in these as in ordinary cases, though the 
cerebral influence is actually wanting."* 

The way is now prepared for some account of the origin of 
those experiments upon the human brain, which have given 
rise to the term Phrenopathy, and the principles by which it 
is distinguished from Phrenology, Cranioscopy, and the former 
known results of Pathetism. 

More than twenty years ago, my mind was interested on 
seeing persons very strangely affected by religious excite- 
ment, when they were said to "lose their strength," and 
swoon away as in cases of catalepsy. 

This phenomenon led me to suppose the existence of laws 
which governed the nervous system, which had not been un- 
derstood, and which afforded the only true foundation which 
could be assigned for any thing real which had ever taken 
place under the name of Mesmerism. Accordingly, I deter- 
mined on an investigation of this subject, for the purpose of 
sifting it to the bottom, and acertaining how far the nervous 
system could be affected by pathetism. 

In the New- York Watchman, for October 23, 1S41, of 
which I was then editor, I published the first account that 
ever appeared, as far as I know, of this process of operating 
upon the separate cerebral organs. That account did not ap- 
pear till more than two months after I made this discovery, 
which occurred as it is there stated. I had been engaged in 
collecting facts on various "Mental Phenomena;" and un- 

* Bichat further shows, what I have assumed in a preceding chapter, 
that the ganglions do not transmit the cerebral action, (except, it may 
be, sympathetically,) inasmuch as the ner\ ous system belonging to these 
bodies is perfectly independent of the cerebral nervous system. 



140 PATHETISM. 

der this head, was then publishing a series of articles, show- 
ing the " influence of the mind over the nervous system." 
And, while preparing those articles for the press, I commenc- 
ed a course of experiments in Pathetism, for the purpose of 
bringing out, in them, an account connected with the state of 
somnipathy ; and hence that account was not published until 
it best fell with the other subjects under examination. The 
first operation of the kind was on the 5th of August, 1841, 
and my published account of its origin made in the paper as 
above stated, and is as follows : 

" If it has occurred to the reader, that there might have 
been some collusion in the matters detailed in our last, in re- 
gard to what was done by the somnipathist, we ask him to 
weigh, candidly, the following details, in some of which, it 
will be seen, deception was scarcely, if at all possible, 

"As far as we know, the following phrenological tests 
were the first of the kind ever tried, in this or any other 
country ; and as they did not originate with either of the par- 
ties concerned, the reader will not suppose that it would re- 
quire a very large development of marvellousness in us, to 
believe that there was something extraordinary in these re- 
sults. How far they may tend to demonstrate the truth of 
pathetism or phrenology, in the mind of the reader, will de- 
pend altogether on his belief that there was, really, no decep- 
tion in either of the persons concerned. 

"I had noticed, as before stated, that the limbs of the pa- 
tient could never be made to obey the will of the operator, 
when the brain was not pathetised, and having tested this fact 
a sufficient number of times to satisfy myself that I was not 
deceived in this matter, it occurred to me, that particular por- 
tions of the brain might be operated upon in the same way. I 
therefore, at the sitting last mentioned [Aug. 5, 1841], re- 
quested the operator, while the patient was asleep, and play- 
ing at the piano, to reverse the passes over those portions of 
the brain appropriated by phrenologists to the organs of tune. 
He did so, after I had designated the places to which I refer- 
red. The passes were reversed a few times, simply with his 
thumbs. She was now ordered to play ; but she replied, that 
' she could not think of the tune" ! She was repeatedly urged to 
play, but uniformly made the same reply. Satisfied, as I was, 
that there could not have been any collusion in this experi- 
ment, the reader may easily imagine how deeply I was inter- 
ested by it, — demonstrating, as it did, the truth of phrenology 
in my own mind, beyond the shadow of doubt. The same 



PHRENOPATHY. 141 

thing I have since done, and seen repeated, on different pa- 
tients, and in various ways, and the results have always 
been the same." 

Though I have never atttached so much importance to thi3 
discovery as some others seem to have done, yet I am thus 
particular in stating the dates connected with the results of 
my cerebral experiments, that, if any account of a similar 
process of operating should have been previously published, I 
may not seem to attempt a monopoly of what belongs to ano- 
ther ; as, since the above account was first published, it has 
been said that others, in different places, had operated in a 
similar manner ; and, though, at the time, I had never heard 
any thing of the kind, as no account of the process of operat- 
ing had been published, previous to my own, yet I have no 
doubt but the same thing may have been done perhaps, some 
years before. 

Dr. Cleaveland, of Providence, R. L, informs me, that, in 
1837, he used this same agency in exciting some of the men- 
tal functions, though he did not apply it in the same way. 
Nor is it unreasonable to suppose that the same process of 
operating may have suggested itself, about the same time, to 
different persons, both in this country and England. Dr. Bu- 
chanan, of Louisville, Ky., affirms, that he performed similar 
experiments in the spring of 1841, by means of a " galvanic 
fluid," on persons in the waking state. And in a work enti- 
tled "Sketches of Buchanan's Discoveries," published by him- 
self in 1842, professedly to give an account of his discoveries, 
he says : 

" I determined to excite the different portions of the brain 
by a galvanic or galvanoid fluid, and calling them separately 
into action, to watch the resultant phenomena ; cr by excit- 
ing them in myself, to enjoy at once a perfect consciousness 
of the nature of each faculty, and its organ. In this attempt* 
I have met with even a more glorious success than I had ev- 
er anticipated." 

And then he adds in a note, page 10 — 

" i" say nothing of my mode of operation at present, as that 
will be displayed hereafter, publicly." 



142 PATHETISM. 

From this, it appears that Dr. B. himself, in presenting the^ 
reports of his numerous experiments, tells us that he had not, 
and would not, then, reveal his method of operating, or ap- 
plying what he calls the " galvanoid fluid." And those who 
have read his book, know that he does not disclose his method 
of operating; nor, indeed, has he published any account of it, 
that I know of, to this day. And I frankly confess, that I 
never could form a satisfactory idea as to what his peculiar 
method was,* till I heard his lectures in this city, in Novem- 
ber, 1842. The truth is, we were deceived by his professing 
to have discovered " a new agency," which he claimed to 
have " added to our therapeutic list," (page 21); and his 
disclaiming, so explicitly, all dependence upon what had been 
called mesmerism. See his book, pages 55 — 62. 

The origin of these experiments in England, is fully descri- 
bed by Dr. Engledue, in the report of his address before the 
London Phrenological Society, published in the Edinburgh 
Phrenological Journal for October, 1342. It is there stated, 
that they were first performed by a Mr. Mansfield, December 
18, 1841. 

The manner in which this process of operating seems to 
have been discovered by different persons, must be considered 
in the light of a coincidence, and which must go very far to- 
wards demonstrating the reality of that agency by which 
these results have been induced. 

The discovery of what I called the " sympathetic points," 
or the susceptibility of the mental organs to the influence of 
pathetism, when the hand or fingers are applied, not to the 
head, but to any portions of the face, neck, trunk, limbs, fin- 
gers, &c, was made on the 5th of January, 1842, and pub- 
lished in the Watchman on the 29th of the same month. On 
the 12th of February, 1842, I also published in the same pa- 

"■ * Nor will the reader attribute this to our dulness of apprehension, 
we think, if he has ever read the Doctor's book, And the editors of the 
Edinburgh Phrenological Journal, it seems, were equally dull; for in 
that work for October, 1842, they speak of having received an account 
of Dr. B's discoveries, from himself, (the same, probably, published in 
his book, page 80,) but which, they say, did not make'it appear what 
his method of operating was, otherwise than his disclaiming mesmerism. 



PHRENOPATIIT. 143 

per, an account of what I denominated the sympathetic con- 
ductors of the human system, whose functions I supposed to 
differ from those of the nerves, both of motion and sensation. 
And about the same time, I arrived at the conclusions stated 
in the following theory, in relation to the laws which balance 
the organs into " positive and negative" thus making one 
opposed to the function of another ; but no distinct account of 
this fact was published, till that which appeared in the 
Watchman of March 26, 1842. 

Besides the principles generally involved in my theory of 
Pathetism,I consider the following as having been sufficiently 
demonstrated, and settled, so far as this agency is concerned, 
in proceeding from, or influencing in any way, the different 
faculties of the human mind. 

5. Theory of Phrenopathy. 

i. 
That the Cerebral system is appropriated to those functions 
which constitute Instinct, Intelligence, and Reason, 

ii. 
That the Intellectual powers depend upon the size, cseteria 
paribus, and proportional developments of the different cere- 
bral organs. 

in. 
That these organs are susceptible to the control of Pathe- 
tism, by which their action may be separately suppressed or 
excited, at the will of the operator, by manipulation merely. 

IV. 

The degree of their susceptibility depends on the develop- 
ments and the state of the sympathetic system ; and the con- 
trariety between the temperament of the operator and the 
subject. 

v. 
That the mental functions may be separately controlled, by 
applying the fingers, or other appropriate agencies, directly 



144 PATHETISM. 

over the organs in the head, or to different sympathetic points 
in the face, neck, limbs, &c. of the entire system. 

VI. 

That the cerebral organs exist in pairs, and corresponding 
groups in each hemisphere of the brain, and their functions 
are balanced in opposition to each other. 

VII. 

That this principle of antagonism is not only common to all 
the cerebral organs, but it extends to the functions of organic 
life, and by it all changes in volition and motion are made. 

VIII. 

That the cerebral organs hold such relations to different 
parts of the entire system, that they reciprocally affect each 
other. 

IX. 

That this connection is kept up between the mental organs 
and the muscles and nerves of the face, and thus is laid the 
foundation for all that may be known of physiognomy. 

x. 

That the different mental and animal functions are control- 
led by sympathetic and antipathetic laws, which may extend 
their influences from one organ or from one person to another, 
by the nerves appropriated to these influences. 

XI. 

That these laws do, sometimes, give perceptions, without 
the use of the external senses. 

xn. 
That where the sympathetic system is sufficiently deve- 
loped, any impression may be made upon it by pathetism, 
which comes within the range of human conception. 

Having, in a preceding chapter, given some of the reasons 
which incline me against the prevalent notions with regard to 
the agency of a magnetic or nervous fluid, supposed to be 



PHRENOPATHY. 145 

communicated from the hand of the operator, and received 
into the cerebral system of the patient, it may here be suffi- 
cient merely to add a few words, in confirmation of the fore- 
going theory. 

1. Each of the cerebral organs may be excited, as we know, 
through the external senses; hut, excitements produced in 
this way do not differ from those produced by pathetism, and 
hence I infer, that the immediate agency is the same. If 
there is no fluid communicated or received into the nervous 
system of the patient, when his Caution is excited by a mere 
sound, how does it appear to be by a fluid, when I excite that 
organ by merely placing my finger upon it ? 

2. The cerebral organs reciprocally affect each other, in the 
same person. Combativeness excites Destructiveness. Com- 
passion excites Benevolence. But, is this done by a fluid ? 
The sight often excites Combativeness: if this be done by a 
fluid, how comes it to pass, that this fluid, in passing from 
the optic nerve, or the organ of sight, to Combativeness, does 
not excite the numerous intermediate organs ? Who can 
tell? 

3. We have seen, that one must be the subject, and ano- 
ther the agent or operator. But the agent may excite the or- 
gans of the subject, either by touching him in any given point, 
or the subject may touch the agent, and the effects are the 
same. Now, when the subject touches, for instance, the organ 
of Benevolence in the head of the operator, and feels his own 
Benevolence excited, by what law is the influence directed to 
that organ, rather than any other ? I humbly conceive, that 
the only rational answer that can be given here, is to be found 
in the foregoing theory. For, even if it should be admitted 
that a fluid is actually received by the patient from the ope- 
rator, without the laws of pathetism we could not tell why it 
should excite one organ any more than another. If it should 
be said, that the fluid passes from the cerebral organs of the 
operator into the same organs in the brain of the subject, be- 
cause organs affect their like, I answer, this is by no means 
clear. For we have seen above, that one organ in the same 
head excites others whose functions are entirely different. 

N 



146 PATHETISM. 

4. It not unfrequently happens, that when a subject is on- 
der the operation of one person, his organs cannot be affected 
at all by any one else. But why not, if the brain actually 
receives a fluid from the hand of the operator ? 

7. Mental Organs. 

In concluding this chapter, it may be desirable that I should 
give some account of the bearings which this agency would 
seem to have in determining the number and location, as well 
as the functions, of the mental organs. From what has been 
already stated, it will be seen, that we cannot with safety de- 
part entirely from the Gallian method of determining these 
questions. True, Pathetism affords new and extraordinary 
facilities for bringing out the mental functions, both in the 
sleeping and waking state ; but it cannot, for the reasons al- 
ready stated, be depended upon for fixing the precise location 
of organs, to the entire exclusion of the old method. Nor are 
the difficulties obviated, by operating on persons in the wak- 
ing state. We have seen, that in many cases it makes a de- 
cided difference, when the operator or patient knows, or 
anticipates beforehand, what the results should be. The best 
way, therefore, is for them both to be ignorant of Phrenology, 
and no questions should by any means be asked, or any thing 
said or done, which could give the subject any idea of the re- 
sults which should follow any experiment in phrenopathy. 
Operators should always be aware, that patients are very 
apt to anticipate the results and thus train themselves into 
certain habits and susceptibilities peculiar to each case. For 
instance the operator makes a pass, or places his hand on the 
head of the patient, with the design of controlling the arm, 
and he says to his patient, * Raise your arm.' Now this di- 
rection gives, at once, the apprehension of the effect designed 
to be produced; and the patient, it may be, makes the effort, 
and finds it impossible to raise his hand. So, in exciting or- 
gans. The fingers are placed on any given portion of the 
head; and if he says he feels a certain emotion, he may be 
easily led to assr ;iate that feeling with that place in his head ; 
but whether i f be the appropriate place or not, must be deter- 
mined by other things. I have seen heads both awake and 
asleep, turned c topsy-turvy' in this way. 



PHRENOPATHY. 147 

Nor are the accounts which patients give of themselves 
to be depended on, alone; for though they may be remarka- 
bly correct, in some respects, they do not prove to be so in all. 
The inference would at first thought seem to be well founded, 
that when you excite any emotion, by placing your fingers 
over a particular place in the head, that the corresponding or- 
gan must certainly be in that place. But this does not follow. 
You place your fingers on two points in the face, and excite 
the lungs; but the lungs are not beneath the surface touched 
in this case. And even if you should affect the mental organ, 
directly under your finger, the laws of sympathy might cause 
the results to appear from some other portion of the system. 
It should be remembered, that all these excitements, from ex- 
trinsic agencies, are more or less morbid ; and, from the na- 
ture of the case, it must be exceedingly difficult to distinguish 
between these and the normal functions, or to tell, in each 
case, precisely how much is to be allowed for sympathy with 
other excitements in the system, of which we know nothing 
at all. Indeed, it should be known, that the phrenological 
organs, in some subjects, may be excited by touching any 
parts of the body. I have excited them in some patients, by 
touching the different teeth, in others by touching the different 
fingers, and the joints, as the knees, elbows, &c, and even 
the toes of the feet ; nor is this any more unaccountable than 
that mirth, for instance, should be excited, by tickling under 
the arms or any other parts of the body. 

The precise number of mental faculties it will probably be 
impossible to ascertain, as must appear, if we consider how 
difficult it must be, to distinguish between simple and com- 
pound functions, or the action of one and the combined func- 
tions of two or more organs. 

The only way, therefore, for rendering this agency available 
in fixing the location of the organs, is the following: 

1. Become familiar with the laws of sympathy and antipa- 
thy ; and what the exciting or disturbing causes are, which 
may, in any case, interfere wilh their influences. 

2. By comparing the results of different operators, 

3. By induction and observation. 



148 PATHETISMo 

Proceeding in this way, I have set down the following ad- 
ditions to the discoveries of Gall, Spurzheim, Vimont, and 
others. True, I could have increased the number, ad infini- 
tum; but cannot persuade myself, that if I were to put down 
all the manifestations which I have brought out from time to 
time, that it would be of any special service to science; as it 
is by no means perfectly evident, that all these manifestations 
are from the normal functions of so many distinct cerebral or- 
gans. For instance : is there a distinct organ for thinking ? 
Are there distinct organs for gaping, squinting, pouting, for 
opening and clenching the hand, pointing ihe finger, turning 
the head, nodding, whistling, deglutition, vomiting, shaking 
the hand, looking up, opening the mouth, &c. &c. It has 
been affirmed, I am aware, that " every fibre of the brain" 
is a distinct organ, for some mental or physical manifestation, 
and that every actual, possible, or imaginable emotion, per- 
ception, apprehension, conception, or motion, mental or me- 
chanical, is performed by a distinct cerebral organ. If so, 
there must be an organ for every letter in every alphabet; an 
organ for every word in every language; an organ for all 
kinds of food and drink; and, in a word, an organ for every 
science and every action which comes within the power of 
man ! Who can believe this ? 

But it would seem, that this notion of the infinitude (so to 
speak) of the cerebral organs, has arisen from a want of at- 
tention to the nature of the mental functions. We find, for 
instance, an organ of Causality, or two if you please — one for 
physical or mechanical causes, and the other for metaphysical 
subjects; both together embracing, of course, all the causes of 
all things. Now it would be just as reasonable to assume the 
necessity of an organ of Causality, for every individual effect 
that has ever taken place, as it is to have one for every possi- 
ble action or emotion. The truth is, no one can tell, precisely, 
what emotions or conceptions come out as the results of one 
simple function. We cannot tell, in many cases, how many 
organs sympathise with each other. And while I know that 
the same results may be produced from different subjects, by 
applying this agency to different parts of the system, I do not 



PHRENOPATHY. 149 

see what is to be gained by putting down every manifestation 
as the function of a distinct organ. It seems to me, therefore, 
that the better way is, not to give up entirely the old method 
for determining the number and location of the cerebral or- 
gans. The chief assistance I have derived from this agency, 
has been in the development of their functions. Their loca- 
tion and precise number, must be left for time and observation 
to determine. 

In the following list (first published in the Magnet for Oc- 
tober, 1842), I omit the results I have noticed since that time, 
and also the old organs belonging to the system of Gall and 
Spurzheim. All I have found do not, materially, deviate from 
the locations marked by those distinguished men : they would 
seem, rather, to confirm them. The antagonist organs are 
also omitted in this enumeration, except in a few instances. 
They will readily be understood in each case, without a dis- 
tinct specification. 

1. Dread of Death. Fear of dying, unwillingness to pass 
through the struggle of death, in distinction from Vitality. 

2. Thirst. In the group of Alimentativeness. 

3. Smell. In the same group. 

4. Taste. The power of distinguishing flavors, as distinct 
from Alimentativeness. Connected with Alimentativeness. 

5. Acquativeness. Disposition for water, as in bathing and 
swimming. Its antagonist function would seem to be Hydro- 
phobia ; nor is it improbable that there is such a negative or- 
gan, inasmuch as this disease does seem to have occurred 
spontaneously.* That the brain is susceptible of such an ex- 
citement, is certain. 

6. Desire for Money. In distinction from Acquisitiveness. 

7. Grief. A disposition to grieve, to sadness, melancholy, 
gloom, despondency, and despair. It is the opposite of Joy. 

8. Anger. Indignation, the feeling of anger, with or with- 
out cause; and leading to opposition, resistance. In the 
group of Destructiveness. 

9. Ravenousness. When excited, it gives an appetite for 

* See Med. Chir. Review, Jan. 1841, p. 231. 



150 TATHETISM. 

gormandising snakes or reptiles of any kind. In the group 
with Alimentativeness. 

10. Desire for Hoarding vp Treasures. When excited 
produces Covetousness, as distinguished from Acquisitiveness, 
or the mere desire to procure, acquire. In the group with 
Acquisitiveness. 

11. Physical Fear. Fear of pain, physical suffering. In 
the group with Caution. 

12. Discontent. When excited makes one discontented 
with his condition, giving a desire for a change. In the fa- 
mily of Comhativeness. 

13. Inquisitiveness. A desire to pry into, to find out, what 
concerns the affairs of others. 

14. Desire for Precious Things. Makes one fond of dia- 
monds, jewels, &c. 

15. Love of Stimulants. Gives an appetite for intoxicating 
drinks and hot substances, such as vinegar, pepper, &c. 

16. Desire for Protection. Giving a sense of dependence, 
helplessness. Opposed to a sense of independence and safety. 

17. Praise. Disposed to praise and flattery. Makes one 
delight in speaking well of those around him. 

18. Censure. Disposed to find fault, to censure, criminate. 

19. Deception. Gives the power of deceiving by falsehood. 

20. Disguise. Gives the power of acting the hypocrite. 

21. Boasting. Disposition for speaking in one's own praise. 

22. Aversion. The feeling which says, " Go away, let me 
alone, do not trouble me, I do not like your company." 

23. Retribution. Disposition for punishing one who has 
wronged or offended us. When excited, it purposes sly mur- 
der. 

24. Covetousness. Tenacity in keeping money when it is 
once possessed. Acquisitiveness procures it. 

25. Contradiction. Disposed to contradict, to cavil. 

26. Watchfulness. Constant solicitude, anticipation of 
time and events. 

27. Jealousy. Unwillingness to have any one else liked so 
well as self. 

28. Suspicion. Inclined to imagine evil without any rea- 
son. 



PHRENOPATHY. ' 151 

29. Sarcasm. Disposed to scornful, cutting expressions. 

30. Hatred. The opposite oflove, disposing, not merely to 
dislike, but to a feeling of malignant opposition. 

31. Courage. Without fear, reckless. 

32. Parental Love. Love of parents. 

33. Love of Pets. Giving fondness for little animals, dolls, 
&c. 

34. Love of Gifts. A love for things because they are 
gifts, keepsakes. 

35. Love of Enemies. Gives a feeling of pleasure in forgiv- 
ing injuries. 

36. Love of Country. Patriotism, opposed to treason. 

37. The Will. Giving a feeling of personal identity, and 
the power of self-determination. Wilfulness. 

38. Self Confidence. As distinguished from self-esteem. — 
Gives confidence in one's own talents, ability to accomplish. 

39. Dignity. Giving a sense of propriety of conduct, re- 
moved from meanness, or servility. 

40. Ambition. Giving a disposition for excelling in occupa- 
tion, profession, talents, or character. 

41. Desire of Display. Disposition to make one's self 
known, and to show off to advantage. 

42. Dread of Ridicule. I once examined the head of an 
unmarried female, w T ho had been tried for infanticide, in whom 
this organ was unusually large. She acknowledged to me, 
that she would rather die than be exposed to ridicule. 

43. Vanity. As distinct from Love of Approbation. Giv- 
ing an overweening conceit of one's self. When excited, the 
words are minced, and the head kinked back, in characteristic 
style. 

44. Modesty. Giving a shamefaced, shrinking feeling, ac- 
companied w r ith blushing, and which leads one to hide or co- 
ver the face. 

45. Concentration — Recent. The power of confining the 
attention to recent events or subjects. 

46. Concentration — Ancient. Power of confining the at- 
tention to past events. 

Concentration was first discovered by Spurzheim or Vimont, 



152 PATHETISM. 

but I put it down here, as I do a few others, because I sup- 
pose them to be double, as they seem to be from the results 
of my experiments. 

47. Perseverance, Persistance against opposing influences. 
In the family of Firmness. 

48. Endurance. Power of enduring. 

49. Responsibility. Sense of obligation, responsibility. 

50. Industry. Giving a disposition to industry, application 
to labor. Opposed to laziness. 

51. Comprehension. Power of viewing things in masses, 
in their relations to one another. 

52. Calculation. The power of calculating figures, as dis- 
tinct from the organ of number. 

53. System. Method, giving the disposition to be regular, 
doing things systematically and at the time. 

54. Conservativeness. As opposed to Destructiveness. 

55. Harmony. The power of combining and judging of the 
harmony of sounds, as distinct from Tune or simple melody. 

56. Things. As distinct from individuals, or Individuality. 
51. Names. There would seem to be a number of organs 

appropriate to language : one for words, one for ideas, and 
another for names. 

58. Light and Shade. The power of distinguishing be- 
tween them. 

59. Recent Events. The recollection of recent events. 

60. Ancient Eventuality. The power of calling up re- 
miniscences. 

61. Comparison of Ideas. There are two organs appropri- 
ated to Comparison, one takes cognizance of things, the other 
of ideas. 

62. Prevision. The power of perceiving and calculating 
future contingencies. 

63. Generalization. The power of extending the mind 
from particulars to generals. 

64. Analysis. The power of analyzing, taking to pieces, 
viewing things in detail. 

65. Remote Causality. As distinguished from Recent Cau- 
sality. One enquires for the immediate, and the other for the 
first cause. 



PHRENOFATHY. 153 

66. Sense of Direction. As distinct from Locality, or a 
mere recollection of places. This gives a recollection of the 
points of the Compass, and the relative position of one place 
to another. 

67. Desire for Seeing New Places. Giving a disposition 
to travel. 

63. Desire for Seeing Ancient Places. 

69. Sublimity and Ideality. In the portions of the brain 
where these organs have been marked, there seems to be a 
large number, such, for instance, as give a taste for seeing 
Architecture, Waterfalls, Statuary, Volcanoes, Caverns, the 
Heavens, the Earth, Animals, Birds, Insects, Storms, Battles, 
the Ocean, Fruits, Flowers, Meteors, Landscapes, Pyramids, 
*c. 

70. Antiquities. Desire for knowledge of antiquities. 

71. Sense of Perfection. Admiration of symmetry, com- 
pleteness. 

12. The Beautiful. Giving a sense of the fitness of proper- 
ties and things. 

73. Contentment. As opposed to discontent. 

74. Cheerfulness. Disposing to animation, good spirits, 

75. Joy. Disposing to joy, in opposition to sadness. 

76. Playfulness. Disposing to play, to fun, buffoonery. 

77. Curiosity. Giving a desire to pry into things and af- 
fairs which are not immediately made known. 

73. Fiction. The power of creating ideal events. 

79. Confidence. Disposed to trust, without fear. 

80. Wit. The power of associating ideas in a new and 
unexpected manner ; as distinct from Mirth, or the disposi- 
tion to laugh. 

81. Worship. Gives a disposition to adore, to worship; 
appropriate to the Deity; Veneration is applied to men. 

82. Obedience. Disposed to yield obedience to superior au- 
thority. 

83. Gratitude. 

Si. Pity. Compassion. This gives the feeling of com- 
miseration. Benevolence bestow- the gift. Many persons 
have large Pily, but small Benevolence. 



154 rATHETISM. 

85. Faith. An organ appropriate to the exercise of faith, 
in the Deity, and a future state, as distinct from Marvellous- 
ness. 

86. Spirituality. Giving the power to distinguish between 
spiritual, and material things. 

87. Fear of God. As distinct from mere caution, or the 
fear of bodily pain. 

We have seen how the action of the organs may be in* 
creased, in certain persons, either awake or asleep; but that 
the excitement, when it is extraneous, or when it is out of 
proportion with the state of the other organs, or with the nat- 
ural and healthy state of the brain, is morbid, cannot admit 
of a doubt. Probably no one will feel disposed to deny, that 
an unnatural or extraneous excitement, of any one or more of 
the mental organs, ismorbid. I say unnatural, because, some- 
times, an organ may need exciting to its natural tone, or de- 
gree of activity ; in such cases, the action may be perfectly 
healthy, though, indeed, not caused by any inherent stimulus. 
But I refer, now, to those excitements of the mental organs 
which produce the remarkable results which have so much 
astonished all who have witnessed them; those excitements 
which exceed the nature of the person in whom they are pro- 
duced. 

We know what results follow Monomania. A man of good 
education, and intelligent, called on me, and gave the follow- 
ing account : "I see," said he, " constantly above me a man 
w r alking upon the clouds !" But where is he, I inquired? 
" 0," said he, " there ! there! there!! he is, see, see him ! 
See! he has a cloud wound around his hat." And I could 
make nothing so real to the perception of that Monomaniac, 
as the sight of that man walking upon the clouds. 

Another, suffering from an over excitement of Marvellous- 
ness and Veneration, told me he saw the devil, and he even 
showed me the spot where he had had a fight with his Satan- 
ic majesty; and pointed to the ground, torn up and scattered 
in various directions, as evidence indisputable, of what he 
stated. Now in these cases, the perceptions of these Mono- 
maniacs were as real, and probably of the same character, as 



PHREKOPATHY. 155 

those produced by Pathetism. A short time since I excited 
the Ideality of a very intelligent lady, and she immediately 
saw and described a very singularly looking man, dancing. 
At another time she saw various odd looking animals and 
persons, all of them, undoubtedly, the creations of this exci- 
ted organ. Indeed volumes might be filled with accounts of 
a similar character, describing visits to the sun, moon, and 
stars; and of which we may make just as much, as of the 
man seen walking upon the clouds. 

I have stated that the action of the separate organs maybe 
either suppressed or excited, both in a state of somnipathy 
and when the patient is awake, and I will now bring this 
chapter to a close by giving a few specimens of the results of 
these different effects. 

Soon after discovering this susceptibility of the cerebral or- 
gans, a meeting was called at my instance by the proprietor 
of the New York Museum, of a number of scientific gentle- 
men, for the purpose of testing, in all suitable ways, the real- 
ity of this agency in controlling the cerebral organs. The 
first meeting was held at the Museum, September 8, 1841. 
The experiments were conducted under the inspection and di- 
rection of a committee, and the results were written down at 
the time by one of the Committee, and published in the New 
York Watchman for November 6, 1841. 

The patient had been perfectly blind, from the time she 
was six weeks old, her eye sight having been destroyed by 
accident. It was believed by those who knew this lady, that 
she had no knowledge of Phrenology. Before suppressing or 
exciting either of the organs, it will be noticed, the questions 
were proposed to her to ascertain what their action was in 
the normal state, and, to see how it would correspond with 
the effects produced upon them by pathetism. On being put 
to sleep, the experiments proceeded as follow 7 s: — 

Q. " Do you know me, Mary ? " 

A. " Yes, it is Mr. Sunderland." 

Q. "I want to talk with you on the subject of religion. Do 
/ou love the Savior ? " 

A. " Yes, I love the Savior." 



153 PATHETISM. 

Q. " What are your views on the subject of religion ?" 
A. "0, I think a great deal of it." 
Q. " Have you faith in God ? " 
A. "Yes."" 

Q. "Who baptized you and admitted you into the church ?" 
A. "Dr. Eastburn." 

Q. "What do you think of Dr. Eastburn?" 
A. " 0, I think he is a very good man, — I like him very 
much." 

Q. " Where do you think you will go when you die ?" 
A. "To heaven, I hope." 

The organs involved in these questions, it will be seen, 
were Veneration, Worship, Love, Faith, Hope, and Adhesive- 
ness. The action of these organs was now arrested, by mere- 
ly reversing the passes over them. My questions and her an- 
swers were then as follows: — 

Q. " Do you love the Savior any, Mary ?" 
A. " No, I don't know as I do." 
Q. " Have you any regard for religion?" 
A. " No, I cL ni care much about it." 
Q. "Where do you think your soul will go when you die?" 
A. " O, / don't know much about that." 
Q. "What do you think of Dr. Eastburn?" 
A. " / don't think he is any better than other folks ." 
Q. "Have you any desire to go to heaven?" 
A. " / don't care anxj thing about it." 

These organs were excited and brought back to their pre- 
vious state, and the action of Acquisitiveness was next arrest- 
ed in the same way. 

Q. " Would you like to have me make you a present of my 
watch?" 
A. " I don't care. much about it." 

Q. " Do you care much about those rings on your fingers ?" 

A. "No, only for the sake of those who gave them tome." 

Q. "Suppose some one were to take all your money and 

clothes from you?" 

A. "Well, they might keep them." 
These organs were then excised.: — 



PHRENOPATEY. 157 

Q. "What would you think if a person should take all 
your clothes one! money from you ?" 

A. "I should think they were very cruel to take them from 
ms, for I cannot get money so well as other foiks." 

Q. "Are you fond of property ?" 

A. " 0, yes, if I could only have enough of it." 

Ker action of Wit was next arrested. 

She was then asked numerous questions calculated to ex- 
cite laughter, but without effect. The operator now restored 
those portions of the brain, by his will, merely, and by the 
feeling which he showed (by signs) in himself, she was thrown 
into a violent fit of laughter. And when one of the questions, 
which had just been put to her without effect before, was 
now proposed to her, she was convulsed with laughter, and 
gaid she was particularly fond of fun. 

One of the spectators having suggested that the last exper- 
iments were not satisfactory, inasmuch as the questions, in 
some casos, would give her (admitting she was not asleep) 
an idea of the object we had in view, Dr. Channing wrote 
down the following questions. Adhesiveness, it is said, forms 
attachments to friends. It will be seen, that some of the 
questions do not relate, at all, to this faeu! ty. This was de- 
signed to deceive her, in case she was not really asleep: — 

Q. " Do you love money ?" 

A. "Yes, very well." 

Q. u Are you fond of your friends?" 

A. " Yes, sir." 

Q. " Do you love dress ?" 

A. " Yes, sir, more than I wish I did." 

Q. "Do you love vour relations better than any body 
else ?" 

A. "I don't know; but I find friends who are not my 
relations." 

Q. " Do you admire beautiful things ?" 

A. " Yes, sir, anything I can get at, or hear, such as Poet- 
ry, tec." 

Q. " Do you love to be with your friends F* 

A. u Yes, sir." 
o 



158 PATHETISM. 

Q. " When they are absent do you love to call them to 
mind?" 

A.- "Ye?, I do." 

The operator now reversed the passes over Adhesiveness, 
when the questions and answers were as follows : — 

Q. " Do you love dress ?" 

A. " 0, yes, better than I ought to." 

Q. u Do you love your relations letter than you do oth* 



ers 



2" 



A. "I don't know." 

Q. " Do you admire beautiful things ?" 

A. "Yes, such as I can get at — I can't see." 

Q. " Do you love to he with your friends ?" 

A. "iW 

The answers were precisely as before, in every particular 
except in relation to the organs whose functions had been ar- 
rested. 

It was now (secretly) proposed to examine the effects on 
the organ of Philoprogemtiveness. The questions were 
written, and intermixed with others, in such a way, as to 
preclude the possibility of deception on her part, as will be 
seen. They were numbered for the purpose of comparing her 
answers, both before and after the organ had been arrested. 
A lad about twelve years old, was put in communication 
with her, and asked the questions; and her answers were 
taken down in her own words : — 

1. Q. "How old are you ?" 
A. "Twenty-six." 

2. Q. Do you like music?" 
A. " Very much ?" 

3. Q. "Do you love children?" 
A. " Yes, dearly" (this was said with great emphasis.) 

4. Q. " Which do you love best, very little children, or 
those half grown?" 

A. " I love little infants best." 

5. Q. " Do you choose your friends among the young ?" 
A. "No, not of course*" 

6. Q. " How do you like to hold little squalling babies ?" 




I 



PHRENOPATHY. 159 

A. " I like to hold them to get them quiet, but do not like 
to hear them cry." 

7, Q. " Do you prefer the music of the piano to the music 
of babies?" 

A. " 0, yes, I like the music of the piano, but don't like to 
hear the cry of babies." 

The operator now reversed the passes over Philoprogeni- 
tiveness, and her answers to each of the questions were as 
before, except the following, which were given to those cor- 
responding to these numbers : — 

3. " No, I don't like them." 

4. " I don't like little infants" 
6. " I don't like to hold them." 

From which it will be seen that her answers to those ques- 
tions which involved Philoprogenitiveness, were directly the 
reverse, after the functions of that organ had been suspended, 
as it seemed to be by the reverse passes. 

The following example will shew how the mind of the pa- 
tient is affected under these excitements, as in this case no 
questions were asked, by which any suggestion could have 
been given of the anticipated effects ; and besides, these re- 
sults were produced upon a person who was blind, and with- 
out even touching the head ; so that it was utterly impossible 
for her to have any idea from contact or by any other sign, 
what organs were pointed at; for these expressions were 
made by her, on my merely holding one of my fingers within 
an inch or so of the different organs, marked below : — 

Individuality. — " 0, I'm thinking of all the individuals I 
ever knew. 0, I have known more persons than ever you 
did." 

Size.— [Holding up her hands,] " This is so big — this is so 
small," &c. 

Color. — "0, I want a beautiful pink shawl. 0, those 
beautiful colors." 

Eventuality — Ancient. — " I remember — 0, I remember ev- 
ery thing that ever took place in my life." 

Number. — [Holding up her fingers she commenced count- 
ing,] " One. two, three, four," &c. 



160 PATHETISM. 

Calculation. — This excited, she commenced enumerating— 
" Ten times ten are one hundred," &e. 

Tune. — She commenced singing, and never did I hear sing- 
ing in which there was so much real musical expression, as 
I have often witnessed from persons in whom these organs 
had been excited. 

Comparison. — " These hands are both alike. 0, I'll tell 
you whom you are like," &c. 

Causality. — [The head bent forward.] " Why is it that 
this subject is so much misunderstood ? 0,1 can tell you, 'tis 
because you do not understand it." And various other ex- 
pressions in which " ivhy" and " because" were used. 

Supplication. — " 0, you must pray, I cannot — I want to 
pray, but I cannot." 

Self Esteem. — [Lifting the head up, and bringing it up in 
a haughty position.] "I am the greatest person living. 
I am better than any of you. Yes, indeed I am." We never 
heard the emphasis put upon the pronoun "J" so to the very 
life, as when this organ is excited by pathetism. 

Wilfulness. — " I will have my way — O, I don't want to be 
crossed by any of you — I will have it," &c. 

Physical Fear. — " O, I am afraid, I shall fall — help me, — 
see there, I am afraid will come and kill me." 

Moral Fear. — " 0, 1 am afraid to pray to God ! He is an- 
gry with me," &c. 

Gratitude. — " O, I am so thankful — you have been so kind 
to me — 0, 1 do feel grateful." 

Conscientiousness and Acquisitiveness. — " O, I want some 
money — is it right to love money ? 0, no, I know it is not 
right — hut what shall I do ?" 

Veneration and Combativeness. — [The head was imme- 
diately thrown back, then forward, the hands clasped, as in 
prayer, and then jerked apart again.] "0, I want to pray 
— but I am mad with you all — 0, I feel so mad, and yet I 
want to worship." 

Hope, Joy, Veneration and Faith. — [The head was slightly 
bent forward, and the hands clasped as in devotion.] " 0, I 



PHRENOPATHY, 161 

am so happy ! I do hope to be saved — yes, I believe in Jesus 
Christ. 0, I am perfectly happy — 0, 1 am in heaven," &c. 

Imitation and Mirthfulness. — She immediately commenced 
mimicking different persons, with an immoderate fit of laugh- 
ter. 

And so of the other organs. In each case, it must be borne 
in mind, that the excitement was removed from one organ 
before it was extended to another. 



CHAPTER X. 



SLEEP AND DREAMING. 



It is curious enough lo think, how little we know of the 
true nature of natural sleep, when about one-third of our en- 
tire existence is spent in this state. We cannot, of course, 
acquire a knowledge of its cause and laws, while in this state, 
and hence we must stand off at a respectful distance from its 
reach, in order to ascertain any thing satisfactory with regard 
to its nature, when contrasted with the waking state. The 
iirst thought that occurs, on considering sleep, is, the rela- 
tion which it holds to wakefulness, in perfect correspondence 
with the law of contrariety to which I have before so fre- 
quently referred, and which so beautifully alternates all the 
states both of the mind and body. Joy — Sadness ; Love — A* 
version ; Resistance — Submission ; Patience — Discontent ; 
Confidence — Suspicion ; Intellectual — Animal ; Wakefulness 
— Sleep; Life — Death. Sleep, therefore, is the negative of 
the waking state. But, as it does not come within my plan 
to enter minutely into an examination of the anatomy of sleep, 
my remarks will be confined to a few of its distinguishing 
features, that we may the more easily see how, or in what 
respects, it would seem to agree with the states distinguished 
by the terms Somnium or Somnipathy. 

It has been said, that to dream is to sleep. But this needs 
some qualification, inasmuch as by Pathetism we can often 
cause persons to dream who are not asleep, and I have often 
made patients dream of any given subject, after falling into a 
state of common sleep, by giving them certain impressions or 
directions while in a state of somnipathy. And others I have 
prevented from dreaming in the same way. 



SLEEP AND DREAMING. 



163 



1. The Will. 

In proportion to the degree of soundness of the deep, is the 
control of the will over the muscles and mental faculties sus- 
pended. Nor is it in the power of the will, finaliy, to resist 
sleep. It may be deferred for a while, but, sooner or later, 
the will yields, and sleep assumes control over the entire sys- 
tem, so that every muscle, nerve, tissue, and portion of the 
body, is made to feel its influence. 

Somnipathy is never induced, at first, against the will of 
the subject. And even when it has once been brought on, it 
does not appear that the will cf the patient is wholly destroy- 
ed or suspended. Persons in this state have the power of self- 
determination, though net of self-control, and usually exert it 
more or less according to their own views and wishes. 

2. The External Senses. 

Sometimes the external senses are stolen away in a mo- 
ment, but mere ordinarily they cease their functions slowly 
and by degrees. But when the sleep is perfect, the senses are 
as really annihilated as though the body were dead. The 
sense of feeling, seeing, tasting, smelling, hearing, and the 
power of locomotion, are gone, and exist no more until wake- 
fulness summon the various cerebral functions again to ac- 
tion. Hence we find the mind, when passing from wakeful- 
ness to sleep, and from sleep to wakefulness, is in a state of 
delirium. Things appear confused ; and it is easily misled in 
its conceptions. The thoughts wander because the will no 
longer controls them, until the power of thought is fully sus- 
pended, and the mental functions are completely reduced to a 
negative condition. 

In a state of somnipathy, generally, the senses do not seem 
to be annihilated, but rather transferred, as we have seen. 
And in these peculiar states they are sometimes heightened 
and increased in their intensity, as it were, a hundred fold. 

3. Dreaming, 

When one or more of the mental organs are active during 
sleep, it is called dreaming. But this activity is more or less 
partial ; and though we may be able, frequently, to reason 



164 PATKETISM. 

correctly, to a limited extent, and though the mind may, and 
does, seem to have many very remarkable perceptions in 
sleep, yet, it is always more or less incapable of distinguishing 
the mere ideal from realities. Hence we have the grossest 
incongruities in our sleeping mental conceptions, without the 
least surprise, and at other times the most beautiful ideas flit 
before the mind, when it has no power to retain them. I 
have found a number of intelligent persons who were unable, 
at times, to distinguish some of their dreams from what took 
place during their waking state ; and they would frequently 
narrate their dreams, as matters of fact, without any suspi- 
cion that they had merely dreamed the details they were nar- 
rating. And things dreamed, and forgotten, I have caused 
some of my subjects to remember, by exciting portions of the 
brain for this purpose. 

It has been supposed that there is a cerebral organ appro- 
priate to the function of dreaming, and if so, it will explain 
how it is, that some persons dream very little, and others not 
at all. 

In a number of cases where persons have been troubled 
with frightful dreams, I have given perfect relief by Pathe- 
tism; and in others, I have caused persons to dream of any 
given subject at pleasure. In sleep, the mind may have all 
the emotions or conceptions which it ever had in the waking 
state, and sometimes impressions are made upon it f far more 
deep and affecting than any received while awake. The rea- 
son is obvious. In the waking state of consciousness, the at- 
tention is divided among the different faculties and senses ; 
but frequently, in sleep, the forces of the brain seem to be 
concentrated into one organ, and impressions made upon it 
are deep and affecting, ju§t in proportion to its activity, while 
all the others are dormant and inactive. 

I have already referred to the relation which sleep holds to 
a state of wakefulness, and how strikingly these states alter- 
nate in harmony with one of the laws of nature. From this 
fact it is not unreasonable to suppose, that there may be an 
organ of Wakefulness, of which sleep is the antagonism. We 



SLEEP AND DREAMING. 165 

have seen that it is a law of the human system, that the ex- 
citement of any one of the cerebral organs, suppresses the 
action of its corresponding opposite organ. Love suppresses 
hatred ; joy suppresses sorrow ; consciousness, or wakefulness, 
suppresses sleep, and vice versa. This supposition would 
seem to throw light on this mystery, and to be supported by 
the following facts : — 

1. That natural sleep may become more or less voluntary. 
Dr. Reid found no inconvenience from taking food, and imme- 
diately afterwards falling into a state of sleep sufficient for 
two days. And Quin, a celebrated actor, it is said, slept for 
twenty- four hours successively. In such cases, this organ 
may be supposed to be largely developed. And may not this 
assumption explain the reason for persons immediately wak- 
ing up on the cessation of any noise during which they fell 
asleep? A miller found it impossible to fall asleep without 
the noise of the mill. A person has been known to fall asleep 
within a huge boiler, while others were constantly beating it 
on the cutside with their hammers ; and on the cessation of 
the noise wakefulness returned. 

2. That it should be continued in certain cases so very 
long. 

A lady is mentioned by Dr. Mac Nish, who spent three- 
fourths of her life in sleep. A woman in Henault slept from 
seventeen to eighteen hours a day, for fifteen years. De 
Moivre slept twenty hours out of the twenty -four ; and Tho 
mas Parr slept away the greater part of his life. Other cases 
are well known, where persons have slept a week, a month, 
and six weeks at a time. Of course, nourishment was given 
them during this time. But it does not solve the- mystery to 
say, that sleep, in these cases, was a disease. What part of 
the system was diseased ' l . 

3. That persons are often able to live so long without 
sleep. 

A recent number of the Boston Medical and Surgical Jour- 
nal, contains a letter from Mr. Robert F. Go-nl.u , now of 
Boston, Mass. giving an account of his extraordinary sleep- 



166 PATHETISM. 

lessness. Mr. G. says he was first bereft of sleep in the year 
1833 for six weeks, when about 40 years of age. Prior to 
that time he had never suffered for want of sleep, although at 
times a little sufficed for refreshment. He was confined in 
London, as he alleges, by British tyranny, three years and 
eight months, and it was daring this period, that a habit of 
living without sleep began to form. During his confinement 
he felt very little need of sleep, and the greater part of his 
time in bed, which was never more than six hours in the 
twenty-four hours, was given to reveries. 

Soon after his liberation, having first visited Scotland, he 
left Edinburgh for America. He had no sleep until he 
arrived at Liverpool, where he took a warm bath before go- 
ing to bed. This had the desired effect, and procured him 
a few hours repose. The next morning he embarked for N. 
York, which he reached in 42 days, without having one wink 
of sleep. — Immediately on landing at New York he procured 
a warm bath, got into a comfortable bed and slept soundly. 
From that time forward he did not sleep for three years. He 
took laudanum, but that had no effect; he drank whiskey in 
the hope that it would induce sleep, but it only made him 
sick. 

In the early part of 1837, while in Ohio, he was attacked 
with erysipelas in the leg, and during five months was with- 
out sleep. He had recovered his health in some degree when 
intelligence reached him of the death of two of his children. 
— He then lay two weeks in great agony, and from that time 
to this, a period of four years and six months, he has been en- 
tirely deprived of sleep. His health has much improved, and 
he entertains a hope that as soon as he is able to take exer- 
cise, he will recover. 

A man is mentioned by Sir John Sinclair, who lived to 
the age of ninety-one years, and, on an average, slept only 
four hours in the twenty four. Dr. MacNish says he knew a 
lady, who enjoyed excellent health, and yet, the whole period 
of her sleep did not exceed four hours in the twenty four, and 
she never slept over thirty minutes at a time. Frederick the 



SLEEP AND DREAMING. 167 

Great, and John Hunter, slept only five hours during the 
twenty-four. It is said, on the authority of Sir Gilbert Blane, 
that General Pichegru, during a whole year, while un an ac- 
tive campaign, did not average over one hour's sleep during 
the twenty-four. 

That persons go along time without sleep, frequently, from 
mental or nervous excitement, we know; but even these ca- 
ses may confiim the theory above stared. 

4. The well known effects of excessive sleep, or Continued 
wakefulness. 

Too much sleep produces dulness, lassitude, headache, and 
even death. Boerhaave speaks of a student, who from a be- 
lief that sleep was the natural state of man, slept eighteen 
hours a day, which soon caused his death by apoplexy. 

Wakefulness, too long continued, causes physical and men- 
tal imbecility, fever, headache, inflammation of the brain, and 
insanity. These habits would seem to destroy the balance of 
power between the organs of wakefulness and sleep, and 
hence the results appear precisely as if the same violence 
were done to the relation between any two of the others, by 
which the harmony of action and influence should become 
perverted or destroyed. 

5. This assumption is favored by what we know of the dif- 
ferent means for producing artificial sleep. 

Cerebral effort disposes to sleep. Hence all persons who 
exercise the mental functions to excess, require more than 
ordinary sleep. Every thing monotonous produces sleep. Fill- 
ing the stomach with food, so as to draw the vital forces from 
the brain for the purpose of disposing of its contents, has the 
same effects. 

Combing the head, or shaving, or holding the hands upon 
the frontal or coronal regions, produce drowsiness; and if the 
subject be susceptible, placing the hands en almost any part 
of the head or system, with this avowed purpose, will dispose 
to drowsiness, and if continued long enough will induce sleep. 
The application to the temples of a small plaster, made of 
half an ounce of henbane and one scruple of opium, disposes 



168 PATHETISM. 

to sleep, and is said to be an excellent method for removing 
sleepnessness, when it has been brought on by grief or ner- 
vous excitement. But for soothing the nervous system, and 
removing difficulties of this kind, lb ere is no remedy equal to 
Pathetism. 



CHAPTER XI. 

SOMNIUM — TRANCE— -SOMNAMBULISM. 

There is a most striking similarity in all these states, which 
leaves no room to doubt, as to the agencies by which they are 
brought on, or that peculiar state of the system favorable to 
their development. And it is worthy of notice, that, while 
many of the medical profession, as well as others, readily ad- 
mit the reality of the phenomena which appear in a state of 
somnium, or trance, they set the whole down as nothing bet- 
ter than humbugging, if it be once alleged that this peculiar 
state has been induced by artificial means. 

In cases of somnambulism, some of the intellectual organs 
appear to be highly excited, and it is certain, that many som- 
nambulists have been known to do things, of which they 
were wholly incapable in the waking state. It is not unlikely 
but that the medical profession will, ultimately, agree to call 
this a state of insanity ; for it is plain, that in many respects 
it resembles insanity, both in the nature of some of the men- 
tal exercises, and also in the muscular strength put forth. 

The books contain many facts of this kind — enough, cer- 
tainly, to satisfy the most sceptical as to the existence of 
what, perhaps, may be denominated the independent sense — 
a sense which sometimes enables certain persons to see, hear, 
&c. without the use of the organs of seeing and hearing, 

A correspondent of the author,* describes the case of his 
brother, who, while asleep, would often arise and write poe- 
try and long letters, in a room perfectly dark. He would 
make his lines straight, cross his t's and dot his i's, and make 
it perfectly legible. He seemed to be clairvoyant when in 

* L. Collins, East Bloomfield, N. V. 



170 FATHETIS3C. 

that state ; and would often tell what a sister and brother-in- 
law were doing, and where they were, when several hundred 
miles off. They were travelling for the health of his brother- 
in-law, and the brother, while in his reveries, would tell the 
state of the health of the invalid. His statements, though 
many and often, were always found correct. This was in 
1827. 

The following particulars of a case of somnium and som* 
nambulism, I have from an eye and ear witness, who was 
himself a resident of the family at the time. # It was that of 
a young lady, who was in the habit of rising in the night and 
dressing herself, and at these times she would converse, 
though she was evidently in a state differing very much from 
her usual waking condition. She would instantly arise from 
her bed at the sound of a violin ; and after dressing, would 
engage in conversation with her eyes open. At these times 
she called every one of the family by a new name, which she 
invariably applied to each when asleep, but of which she had 
no knowledge when awake. She could see perfectly well in 
the dark, and would often read in any book in the darkest 
night, when the shutters were fast closed, and the room as 
dark as it possibly could be. At such times she not only read 
correctly, but would tell the exact time by any watch, howe- 
ver the hands might be moved back or forward. When in a 
state of somnium, it was common to go out with her to the 
neighbors; and when once approaching a fence nearly as high 
as her head, she put her hand upon the top, and leaped over 
it with perfect ease. 

It was noticed that she would never read in one particular 
book ; and a neighbor, with the view of detecting what he 
supposed to be deception, cut out a paragraph from that book, 
and pasted it into a pamphlet ; this pamphlet he then put 
with half a dozen others, and handed the whole to her, with- 
out her knowing what he had done. She took them, and on 
coming to the one which had the extract in it, she instantly 
threw it aside. He then retired, and cut out one word, and 

• Deacon N. Moody, Hallo well, Maine. 



SOMNITTM — TRANCE — SOMNAMBULISM. 171 

pasting it into another, put it with the number, and again re- 
quested her to read a paragraph from each. But she instantly- 
detected the pamphlet into which the word had been pasted. 
He then cut out one letter only, and pasting it into one of the 
pamphlets as before, she detected that one without opening 
it, and cast it from her as before. 

A lock of her hair was cut off, and taken into another room. 
On its being put into the fire she perceived it, and manifested 
much pain and uneasiness. Though she often went out 
among the neighbors while in a state of somnium, there was 
one direction, in which, if she started to go, she was imme- 
diately restored to consciousness. She was finally relieved by 
beifig taken across the Merrimac river for this purpose, as it 
was said by a reputed witch* that this process would prevent 
her from falling into that state again. And I have found in 
such cases, that almost any process, recommended by certain 
persons, will be equally effectual in breaking these spells, and 
arresting those abnormal dispositions to sleep and somnam- 
bulism. The process, whatever it may be, will certainly 
prove effectual, if the mind or susceptibility be sufficiently 
impressed with an apprehension of the certainty of the cure. 

Drs. Righeilini and Pigatti describe, from their own obser- 
vation, the somnism of a man servant named Negretti, twen- 
ty-four years of age, who, from his eleventh year, had experi- 
enced attacks of the disease in March, not extending beyond 
April. March 16th, 1740, after going to sleep on a bench in 
the kitchen, he first began to talk, then walked about, went 
to the dining room and spread a table for dinner, and placed 
himself behind a chair with a plate in his hand, as if waiting 
on his master the Marquis Luigi Sile. After waiting till he 
thought his master had dined, he cleared away, and put all 
the things into a basket, which he locked up in a cupboard. 
He afterwards warmed a bed, locked up the house, and pre- 
pared for rest. Being then awakened, and asked if he re- 
membered what he had been doing, he answered ' No.' Of- 
ten, however, he did remember. On the 18th of the same 

* The far-famed « Moll Pitcher/' of Lynn, Mass. 



172 PATHETXSM. 

month, he went through the same process, but instead of go- 
ing to bed, went into the kitchen and sat down to supper. 
Dr. Righellini, with many others, were very curious to see 
him eat. At once recollecting himself, the man said, * How 
can I so forget ? to day-is Friday, and I must not dine.' He 
then locked up every thing and went to bed. If water was 
thrown in his face or his eyes were forcibly opened, he would 
awake, but remained some time faint and stupid. His eyes 
were firmly closed in the paroxysm, and he took no notice of 
a candle placed elose to them. Sometimes he went against 
the wall, and even hurt himself severely. If #ny body push- 
ed him, he got out of the way, and moved his arms rapidly 
on every side; and, if in a place with which he was not well 
acquainted, he felt all the objects around with his hand, and 
showed much inaccuracy ; but in places familiar to him, he 
was not confused, and went through with his business well. 
After Dr. Pigatti had shut a door through which he had pass- 
ed, he struck himself against it on returning. Sometimes he 
carried a candle about, but on a bottle being substituted, he 
carried it about as if it were a candle. Dr. Pigatti was cer- 
tain he could not see. Once in his sleep he said he must go 
and hold a light to his master in the coach. Dr. Righellini 
followed him closely, and found that he stood at all the cor- 
ners of the streets with his torch not lighted, waiting awhile 
in order that the coach which he fancied was following 
might pass, when the light was required. On one occasion 
he ate several cakes and some salad for which he had just 
asked the cook. He then went with a lighted candle into 
the cellar and drew wine which he drank. He would carry 
a tray with wine glasses and knives, and turn it obliquely, to 
avoid an accident, on passing through a narrow doorway. 
Dr. Pigatti once substituted some very strongly seasoned 
cabbage for a salad which he had prepared, and had sat 
down to eat : he ate the cabbage, and then some pudding 
which was substituted for it, without perceiving the differ- 
ence. At another time, having asked for wine, he drank wa- 
ter which was given to him; and sniffed ground coffee after 
asking for snuff. 



SOMNIUM— TRANCE — SOMNAMBULISM. 173 

Dr. Francesco Soave relates the case of Castelli, the pupil 
of an Italian apothecary. The youth was found asleep one 
night, translating Italian into French, and looking out the 
words in a dictionary. They put out his candle, when, find- 
ing himself in the dark, he began to grope for it, and went to 
light it at the kitchen fire, though other candles were alight 
in the room. At other times he had gone down to the shop 
and weighed out medicines, and talked to supposed custo- 
mers. When any one conversed with him on a subject on 
which his mind was bent, he gave rational answers. He had 
been reading Macquer's Chemistry, and somebody altered his 
marks. This puzzled him, and he said, " Bel piacere di tog- 
liermi i segni," Ke found his place and read aloud, but his 
voice growing fainter, his master told him to raise it, which 
he did. Yet he perceived none of the persons standing round 
him ; 'and though he heard,' says Dr. Soave, 'any conversa- 
tion which was in conformity with the train of his ideas, he 
heard nothing of the discourse which these persons held on 
other subjects. His eyes seemed to be very sensible to ob- 
jects relating to his thoughts, but appeared to have no life in 
them; and so fixed w r ere they, that when he read, he was 
observed not to move his eyes, but his whole head from one 
side of the page to the other.' 

In 1686, Lord Culpepper's brother was indicted at the Old 
Bailey, for shooting one of the guards and his horse. He 
pleaded somnambulism, and was acquitted on producing ample 
evidence of the extraordinary things he did in his sleep. 
There is a somewhat similar story of a French gentleman, 
who rose in his sleep, crossed the Seine, fought a duel, and 
killed his antagonist, without recollecting any of the circum- 
stances when awake. 

A young man named Johns, at Cardrew, near Redruth, 
England, being asleep in the sumpter-house of that mine, 
was observed by two boys 10 rise and walk to the door, 
against which he leaned ; shortly after, quitting this position, 
he walked to the engine shaft, and safely descended to the 
depth of twenty fathoms, where he was found by his com- 
rades soon after with his back resting on the ladder, They 



174 PATHETISM. 

called to him to apprise him of the perilous situation, but he 
did not hear them, and they were obliged to shake him 
roughly till he awoke, when he appeared totally at a loss to 
account for his situation. 

In the following cases a partial increase of mental power 
took place, as is sometimes noticed in insanity and common 
dreams : — 

A boy dreamed that he got cut of bed, and ascended to the 
summit of an enormous rock, where he found an eagle's nest, 
which he brought away with him, and placed under his bed. 
Now, the whole of these events actually took place ; and 
what he conceived, on awaking, to be a mere dream, was 
found to have had an actual existence, by the nest being 
found in the precise spot where he imagined he had put it, 
and by the evidence of the spectators who beheld his perilous 
adventure, The precipice which he ascended was of a na- 
ture which must have baffled the most expert mountaineer, 
and such as, at other times, he could not have scaled. 

Gassendi speaks of a man who often rose in his sleep, went 
into a cellar and drew wine, appearing to see in the dark as 
in the day ; but when he awoke, either in the cellar or in the 
street, was obliged to grope his way back to bed. He often 
thought there was not light enough, and thought he had ris- 
en too early, and therefore struck a light. He tells of another 
who passed on stilts " over a torrent asleep one night, and on 
awaking was afraid to return before daylight, and before the 
water had subsided." 

A female servant in the town of Chelmsford, England, sur- 
prised the family at four o'clock one morning, by walking 
down a flight of stairs in her sleep, and rapping at the bed- 
room door of her master, who inquired what she wanted : 
when, in her usual lone of voice she requested some cotton, 
saying that she had torn her gown, but hoped that her mis- 
tress would forgive her, at the same time bursting into tears. 
Her fellow servant, with whom she had been conversing for 
some time, observed her get out of bed, and quickly followed 
her, but not before she had related this pitiful story. She 
then returned to her room, and a light having been procured ; 



SOMNIUM TRANCE SOMNAMBULISM. ' 175 

she was found groping to find her cotton box. Another 
person went to her, when, perceiving a difference in the 
voice, she called out, " That is a different voice — that is my 
mistress;" which was not the case — thus clearly showing 
she did not see the object before, although her eyes were 
wide open. Upon inquiry as to what was the matter, she 
only said that she wanted seme cotton, but that her fellow- 
servant had been to her master and mistress making a fuss 
about it. 

A lad named George David, sixteen years old, in the ser- 
vice of Mr. Hewson, a butcher in Bridge Road, Lambeth, En- 
gland, at about twenty minutes past nine, one morning, bent 
forward in his chair, and rested his forehead on his hands, 
and in ten minutes started up, went for his whip, put on one 
spur, and went thence into the stable ; not rinding his own 
saddle in the proper place, he returned to the house and ask- 
ed for it. Being asked what he wanted with it> he replied to 
go his rounds. He returned to the stable, got on his horse 
without the saddle, and was proceeding to leave the stable; 
it was with much difrlculty^and force that Mr. Hewson, assist- 
ed by the other lad, could remove him from his horse; his 
strength was great, and it was with difficulty he was brought 
within doors. The lad considered himself as stopped at the 
turnpike-gate, and took sixpence out of his pocket to be 
changed; and holding out his hand for the change, the six- 
pence was returned to him. He immediately observed, 
"None of your nonsense, that is the sixpence again; give me 
my change." When twopence halfpenny was given to him 
he counted it over, and said, " None of your gammon, that is 
not right; I want a penny more," making the threepence 
halfpenny, which was the proper change. He then said, 
" Give me my castor (meaning his hat), which slang term he 
had been in the habit of using, and then began to whin and 
spur to get his iorse on. His pulse was at this time 136, mil 
nndhard; no change of countenance could be observed, nor 
any spasmodic affection of the muscles, the c)cs remaining 
closed the whole of the time. During the time of bleeding, 
Mr. Hewson related a circumstance of a Mr. Harris, optician, 



176 PATHETISM. 

in Holborn, whose son, some years since walked out on the 
parapet of the house in his sleep. The boy joined in the con- 
versation, and observed, " He lived at the corner of Brown- 
low Street." Soon after the arm was tied up, he unlaced one 
boot, and said he would go to bed. In three minutes from 
this time he awoke, got up, and asked what was the matter, 
(having been then one hour in the trance,) not having the 
slightest recollection of any thing that had passed, and won- 
dered at his arm being tied up, and at the blood. 

The case of Rachel Baker, or the sleeping preacher, as she 
was called, is well known. This lady fell into bad health, 
and under its influence she disturbed and amazed her family 
by her sleeping eloquence. Ker parents made a tour with 
her of some length, and visited New-York and some other of 
the cities of the Union, I know individuals who have heard 
her preach during the night ; and it was customary, at tea 
parties in this city, to put the lady into bed in a room adja- 
cent to the drawing-rcom, in order that the persons present 
might hear her exhortations and prayers, delivered during a 
state of profound sleep. 

Dr. Darwin relates the case of a young lady about seventeen 
years of age, who, every day for five or six weeks, had fits of 
violent convulsions, then retchings, next equally violent hic- 
coughs, then tetanus, and at last somniloquism and somnam- 
bulism, becoming insensible, yet singing, quoting whole pas- 
sages of poetry, and holding conversations with imaginary 
persons, and coming to herself with great surprise and fear, 
but with no recollection of what had happened. At length, 
she could walk about the room in the fit without running a- 
gainst the furniture, and evidently had some external sense ; 
for she took a cup of tea, and expressed a fear that there was 
poison in it ; and seemed to smell at a tuberose, and delibera- 
ted about breaking the stem, because it would make her sister 
so charmingly angry. She once heard a bell, was less melan- 
choly when the shutters were open, and impatient if a hand 
was held over her eyes, or her hands were held down, saying 
" She could not tell what to do, as she could neither see nor 
move." 



SOMNITTM — TRANCE — SOMNAMBULISM. 177 

Gall describes the case of a young man at Berlin, who had 
extraordinary attacks from time to time. He was agitated in 
bed without consciousness ; his movements and gestures show- 
ed a great activity of many internal organs ; whatever was 
done to him, he did not perceive it; at length he jumped out 
of bed, and walked hastily in the apartment ; his eyes were 
then fixed and open. He placed different obstacles in his 
way, which he removed with his hand or carefully avoided ; 
then he threw himself suddenly on his bed, was agitated there 
some time, and at length awoke and sat up, very much asto- 
nished at the number of curious persons who were about him. 

M. Joseph de Koggenbach, at Friburg, in Erisgau, told Dr. 
Gall, in the presence of many witnesses, that he had been a 
somnambulist from his infancy. In this state his tutor had 
made him read ; made him look for places on the map, and 
he found them more readily than when awake; his eyes were 
always open and fixed ; he did not move them, but turned his 
whole head. Many times they held him, but he felt the re- 
straint, endeavored to liberate himself, but did not wake. — 
Sometimes he said he should wake if they led him into the 
garden, and this always happened.* 

Professor Upham, of Bowdoin College, speaks of a farmer 
who rose in his sleep, went to his barn, and threshed out five 
bushels of rye in the dark, separating the grain from the straw 
with great exactness. 

The Portland (Maine) Bulletin of November 1, 1842, refers 
to the case of Captain Jeremiah Brown, of that place, who, 
being sick and confined to his berth while at sea, saw dis- 
tinctly all that transpired around him. He saw vessels as 
they passed him, and others at anchor, told what took place 
on board of them, the truth of which was attested by his mate 
and others, to whom he related what he saw. 

A scientific friend of the author's in this city, describes, in 
the Magnet for November, 134.?, the ca.-e of his own sister, 
who would become exceedingly alarmed in a bound state of 
sleep. Her screams would arouse the whole family. Lights 

* The above, with other similar cases, may be found list in Dr. 
Elliotson's Human Physiology, with their respective authorities. 



178 PATHETISM. 

brought to her shewed her eyes wide open, streaming with 
tears, while all efforts to bring her to a state of consciousness 
proved unavailing. 

A patient whom I recovered from a dreadful state of ner- 
vous derangement, often conversed in her sleep, and I have 
heard her repeat some of the most beautiful strains of poetry, 
and of which she did not seem to have any knowledge on 
waking up. The following verses I took down from her lips 
in one of these states : 

" Dost thou think, because I smile, 

And joy, and wit, and friends surround me, 
There is no torturing thought the while, 
That with its secret power can wound me ? 

Ah ! know, then, I have schooled my heart 

To stifle every wayward feeling ; 
And dearly have I bought the art — 

Not that of conquering, hut concealing." 

The case of the young ecclesiastic related by the Archbish- 
op of Bordeaux, is well know T n. He imagined himself one 
night, in the midst of winter, walking on the bank of a river, 
and seeing a child fall in, who was drowning. He instantly 
threw himself on his bed in the posture of swimming — per- 
formed the motions of swimming, till he seemed to have fa- 
tigued himself, when he felt on the corner of the bed a bunch 
of the covering, which he took for the child. He seized it 
with one hand, and continued to swim with the other, return- 
ing, as it were, to the bank of the river. He then laid down 
his burden, and came out of the w T ater shivering, and his 
teeth chattering as if he had been really in a frozen river. 
He said to those about him, that he was freezing — that he 
should die with cold— that his blood was frozen. He asked 
for a glass of brandy to warm him, but there being none at 
hand, they gave him water. He tasted it, perceived the 
cheat, and demanded more sharply, telling them the danger 
he was exposed to. They gave him some cordial, which he 
drank with much satisfaction, and said it gave him great 
comfort. He did not, however, awake, but went to bed 
again and slept more tranquilly. 



SOMNIUM — TRANCE — SOMNAMBULISM. 179 

The Bishop further informs us, that this young man would 
arise from his sleep, go to his room, take pen, ink and paper, 
and compose good sermons. When he had finished a page, 
he would read it aloud, and correct it. Once, he had written ce 
devin enfant; in reading over the passage, he substituted 
adorable for devin ; but observing that ce could not stand be- 
fore adorable, he added t. The archbishop held a piece of 
pasteboard under his chin, to prevent him from seeing the pa- 
per on which he was writing, but he wrote on, not at all in- 
commoded. — The paper on which he was writing was then 
removed, and another piece substituted; but he instantly per- 
ceived the change. He wrote pieces of music in this state, 
with his eyes closed. The words were under the music, and 
once, were too large, and not placed exactly under the corres- 
ponding notes. He soon perceived the error, blotted out the 
part, and wrote it over again with great exactness. 

The following is interesting, as it is the account which a 
somnambulist gives of himself, and his own feelings, as near 
as he could recollect while in that state. 

"From the age of ten to fifteen, it was almost a nightly 
habit with me to get up from my bed and travel through the 
whole house, unbarring the doors and walking through the 
different apartments with the greatest ease in utter darkness, 
sometimes unlocking the back door, and travelling into the 
yard and out-houses, stopping at dirferent places, and examin- 
ing, apparently with the nicest precision, such articles as 
happened to fall in my way. 

" Yet after being awakened, not the slightest recollection 
remained of what had happened. During some of these noc- 
turnal excursions, I opened a dormer window, and crawled 
out thence to the very apex of the roof! On one of these oc- 
casions, after getting on the top of the house, I was awaken- 
ed by a slight shower of rain, and it was with difficulty I 
made a safe descent by way of the next neighbor's house, 
i which obliged me to rouse the family in order to get back to 
my bed again. 

"The most singular feat, however, that I performed in the 
somnambulic state, was a situation that I got into, out of 
which I could not extricate myself again in a waking state, 
neither could I, upon trial, without the assistance of some- 
thing to step on first, get into it again. The room in which I 
slept at this time, had in it an old-fashioned cradle of double 



180 PATHETISM. 

length, made for twin babes. This was placed upon a long 
narrow keg, which stood on its ends, so that when standing 
alongside of it, the sides of the cradle came within two inches 
of my chin, and it was so poised, that a slight preponderance 
either way would capsize it. During one of my nocturnal 
perambulations in the middle of the night, by some means I 
got into this cradle, without the assistance of any thing that 
would enable me to step up, save some strange inexplicable 
cause. It was a cold winter night, and I became awakened 
while in the act of pulling books from around me, which 
were in the cradle at the time. After being perfectly awa- 
kened, it required a great deal of caution to support my cen- 
tre of gravity, until I had called the assistance of some of the 
family to enable me to get down. 

" In the somnambulic state, I am told my eyes are wide 
open, and have a glassy appearance. Although I would an- 
swer questions, and talk freely on subjects that were indicat- 
ed by my conduct, yet it was next to impossible to waken me 
by any other process than the application of cold water. Af- 
ter a more advanced age, these symptoms have taken a dif- 
ferent form, my nightly perambulations being confined to my 
chamber, and they are more particularly connected with the 
organs of hearing and vision. It does appear, that, like the 
inner vision without the aid of the external eye, there is also 
a distinct faculty of hearing, independent of the external ear. 
This has been experienced by persons of my acquaintance. I 
have frequently hastened to the place from whence sounds 
appeared to come. Generally it appears to be the calling of 
my name, by persons whose voice I can recognise ; but the 
most frequent delusions are through the eye. These symp- 
toms from their frequency, although not fearful in themselves, 
have been of late a source of annoyance, and they always oc- 
cur in a half-waking condition. The clearer and smoother 
the chamber in which I sleep, the less am I annoyed with 
these delusions. Of these symptoms and their operations, I 
have a tolerable distinct recollection afterwards. I generally 
find myself sitting up in bed, in the act of getting up and mo- 
ving towards the objects, which mostly appear to be human 
beings, and often persons of my acquaintance. Although this 
happens to me in a half- waking condition, still, I possess the 
faculty of reasoning within myself upon the necessity of not 
minding these delusions, but seldom become perfectly satisfied 
until I get up and try to touch the object; but invariably get 
awake on being touched by another person. After being awa- 
kened, it has often appeared to me that a conflict had been 
going on between the material and spiritual functions."* 

* Letter of Mr. John Wise, Lancaster, Penn. 



SOMNIUM — TRANCE — SOMNAMBULISM. 181 

The term trance has long been used to signify a state, in 
which the soul seems to have passed out of the body into the 
celestial regions ; and I have seen persons who were subject 
to ecstacies which were thought peculiar, only, to those who 
had actually left the body, and passed into heaven. 

I have often produced this state by pathetism. The per- 
sons in whom it is brought about, describe it as one of the 
most delightful imaginable. But frequently they manifest an 
unwillingness to describe it at all, as they say it so far ex- 
ceeds all our ordinary conceptions of what is elevated, refined, 
beautiful, and heavenly. It seems to differ from the ordinary 
states of somnium, merely in the degrees of abstraction of the 
mind to which it is carried, and in respect to the locomotion 
of the patient. In what is called trance, the patient usually 
sits or is perfectly still, and the mind seems to be employed 
upon what are considered immaterial subjects. Sometimes 
we find such persons remarkably clairvoyant ; they describe 
with accuracy persons and places, without the use of the ex- 
ternal senses. A case of this kind has just come under my 
notice in this city. 

A young lady about sixteen years of age, made a public 
profession of religion, and connected herself with one of the 
Methodist Episcopal Churches here. For the last ten days 
(April 4, 1843,) she has been most of the time in a state of 
trance, as her religious friends call it. It commenced very 
soon after she had been much excited, and had professed to 
become completely sanctified. She was observed to fall into 
an apparently unconscious state, and the limbs becoming quite 
rigid, precisely like the cases I have before described of natu- 
ral somnambulists, or when I have induced the state by path- 
etism. 

This is, undoubtedly, a case of somnambulism, though her 
friends (some of them) think it quite miraculous. She has, 
occasionally, a correct perception of the characters of different 
persons who enter her room, and will address them in re- 
proofs, or exhortations to prayer and praise, according to their 
various characters, though she is said to have had no previ- 
ous knowledge of them beforehand. When one enters her 
Q 



182 2ATHETISM. 

room who is pious, or is believed to be so by her, she clasps 
her hands into the form of what she calls "a crown," and 
places them upon his head ; and the statements she makes 
about the characters, views, and feelings of those who have 
been to see her, are considered by her friends as the miracu- 
lous interpositions of the Divine Being. And I confess, that 
there is every way as much of the miraculous in this case, as 
in those of the " Tyrol Virgins," noticed below. 

One of her friends, a clerical lady, seemed to view it as 
quite profane, when I informed her that I had put persons into 
a state precisely similar, in which they had made descriptions 
of the characters of strangers, every way as correct and re- 
markable as in the present case. And it is curious enough, 
to see how honestly many good people will believe in a case 
of natural clairvoyance, when they are horror-struck at being 
told that the same state may be artificially induced, without 
any thing of the miraculous in it. # 

One of the most remarkable trances upon record, is that of 
the well-known William Tennent, a Presbyterian clergyman, 
then of Brunswick, N. J. There are persons now living who 
knew this pious man, and some who still believe he actually 
died, or left the body, and went to heaven. The following is 
his own account of it : 

" While I was conversing with my brother on the state of 
my soul, and the fears I had entertained of my future welfare, 
I found myself in an instant in another state of existence, un- 
der the direction cf a superior Being, who ordered me to fol- 
low him. I was accordingly wafted along I know not how, 
till I beheld at a distance an ineffable glory, and the impres- 
sions of which on my mind it is impossible to communicate 
to mortal man. I immediately reflected on my happy change 
and thought — Well, blessed be God ! I am safe at last, not- 
withstanding all my fears. I saw an innumerable host of 
happy beings surrounding the inexpressible glory, in acts of 

* I have been often reminded, that had I set up for u a prophet" be. 
fore I restored a lady to her voice (who had been mute for two years) 
last summer, or before I had periormed some other remarkable cures, 
I might have held a successful competition with Joe Smith, and shared 
the chances with him of lining my pockets with gold, instead of work- 
ing for nothing, as I have done, and being reported as a mere juggler, 
or something worse. 



SOMNIUM — TRANCE — SOMNAMBULISM. 183 

adoration and joyous worship ; but I did not see any bodily 
shape or representation in the glorious appearance. I heard 
things unutterable. I heard their songs and hallelujahs of 
thanksgiving and praise, with unspeakable rapture. I felt 
joy unutterable and full of glory. I then applied to my con- 
ductor, and requested leave to join the happy throng; on 
which he tapped me on the shoulder, and said 'You must 
return to earth.' This seemed like a sword through my 
heart. In an instant I recollect to have seen my brother 
disputing with the doctor. The three days during which I 
had appeared lifeless seemed to be not more than ten or 
twenty minuies. The idea of returning to this world of sor- 
row and trouble gave me such a shock, that I fainted repeat- 
edly.'"' He added : " Such was the effect en my mind of 
what I had seen and heard, that if it be possible for a human 
being, to live entirely above the world and the things of it, 
for sometime afterwards I was that person. The ravishing 
sound of the songs and hallelujahs that I heard, and the very 
words that were uttered, were not out of my ears for at least 
three years. All the kingdoms of the earth were, in my 
sight, as nothing and vanity ; and so great were my ideas of 
heavenly glory, that nothing which did not in some measure, 
relate to it, could command my serious attention." 

This extraordinary event is abundantly confirmed by the 
worthy successor of Mr. Tennent in the pastoral charge of 
his church. He states that after hearing from Mr. Tennent's 
own mouth a particular narration of this surprising trance, 
lie said to him, " Sir, you seem to be one indeed raised from 
the dead, and may tell us what it is to die, and what you 
were sensible of while in that state." He replied in the fol- 
lowing words : ' As to dying — I found my fever increase, 
and I bacame weaker and weaker and weaker, until all at 
once, I found myself in heaven as I thought. I saw no shape 
as to the Deity, but glory all unutterable.' Here he paused, 
as though unable to find words to express his news, and lift- 
ing up his hands, proceeded: ' I can say as St. Paul did, I 
heard and saw things unutterable. I saw a great multitude 
before this glory, apparently in the height of bliss, singing 
most melodiously. I was transported with my own situa- 
tion, viewing all my troubles ended, and my rest and glory 
begun, and was about to join the happy multitude, when one 
came to me, looked me Full in the face, laid his bauds upon 
my shoulder, and said, ' You must go back.' These words 
ran through me; nothing could have shocked me more ; I 
cried out, k Lord, must I go back V With this shock I open- 
ed my eyes in this world. When I saw I was in this world 
I fainted, then came to, and fainted for several times, as one 
naturally would have done in so weak a situation.' 



184 PATHETISM. 

I am not able to state whether any cases of spontaneous 
trance, or ecstasy, are on record of persons not religious; but 
certain it is, that for ages past, persons in the different religi- 
ous denominations have been known to fall into this state. — 
The Papists have, from the beginning of their history, mani- 
fested great enthusiasm in detailing accounts of what they 
call " miraculous" ecstasy ; and they have recently circulated 
immense editions of a pamphlet, entitled " The Virgins of the 
Tyrol," throughout this country and in Europe, which pur- 
ports to give an account of two Austrian girls, who have been 
in this state for some eight years past ! The author of this 
pamphlet is said to be the " Earl of Shrewsbury;" but he 
does not seem to be shrewd enough, whoever he may be, to 
see, that he has been most egregiously deceived in supposing 
that no such results as he describes could be traced to the 
laws which induce a spontaneous state of somnambulism. He 
thinks, because these girls were not " Mesmerised" by any 
one, that their state must be miraculous. But that these vir- 
gins are of the sympathetic temperament, like the cases al- 
ready detailed in this chapter, is fully proved by the account 
he himself has given of them. As these cases are deemed of 
so much importance at the present time, no apology will be 
necessary for attempting, here, to show their identity, so far 
as there may be any thing real in them, with the common ca- 
ses of somnambulism. As, for instance : 

1. Their health and temperament. It is well known, that 
disease predisposes persons of a certain temperament to this 
state. And it is said of these girls, Maria, " in her early years, 
had various attacks of illness ;" and, it seems, from 1832 she 
has been, most of the time, confined to her bed with indispo- 
sition. Her temperament is manifest, from expressions made 
of her like these: "Her hazel eye," and "her look is so 
open," &c. Similar expressions, also, occur of the other, Do- 
menica, who, it is said, enjoyed good health till 1823, since 
which time she has been indisposed, and for more than eight 
years confined to her bed. Here, then, is the foundation for 
all the wonders of their trances. 

2. The manner in which these states of trance were com- 
menced. For instance, of Maria it is said, — 



S0MNIUM — TRANCE SOMNAMBULISM. 185 

" When, in 1832, she had attained her twentieth year, she 
evinced the first symptoms of ecstacy, falling into that state 
each time she received the holy communion" 

And of Domenica it is also said, — 

u In the year 1833, she was first observed to fall into ecsta- 
cy after receiving the holy communion^ but without rising 
from her bed." 

I have seen scores of persons, after kneeling in prayer, and 
others, when kneeling at the altar in Methodist churches for 
receiving the sacrament, fall into this state, and become ap- 
parently unconscious, 'precisely like what is said of these two 
nuns. 

3. Perceptions, without the use of the organs of sight or 
hearing. Instances are given, where it is said these nuns had 
perceptions of the approach of the mass; and one of them, it 
is said, as it was carried through the town, " turned to it, as 
the needle turns to the pole." And this, the pious Catholic is 
taught to believe, is miraculous, and demonstrative of the 
truth of Popery ! Now, admitting the account to be true, it 
proves nothing for or against religion. Examine the preced- 
ing cases described in this chapter, and you will find enough 
of the same power of perception detailed, and which came on, 
spontaneously, like these now so much wondered at by Pa- 
pists, far and near. 

4. State of unconsciousness. The authors of this book 
think it quite miraculous, that these " virgins," during their 
ecstacy, should have their " eyes wide open," without seeing, 
so that when " a candle is held near the eye," or when a fly 
lights upon the eye-ball, they do not wink at all ! — a pheno- 
menon that every pathetiser has witnessed since the days of 
Mesmer, and one which I will produce for his Holiness any 
time, whenever he will do me the honor of a call. Persons in 
a state of somnipathy become wholly insensible to pain; and 
we have already seen cases, where the most difficult surgical 
operations have been performed, without the patient's know- 
ing anything about it at the time. 

b. Surprising positions of the body. It is mentioned as 



186 PATHETISM. 

another miraculous effort of the Divine power, in the case of 
these virgins, that their bodies frequently assume very singu- 
lar positions ; as, for instance, one says she 

" Had seen Maria raised up in the air so far, at least, as 
only to touch the bed with the very extremities of the feet." 

The same thing is done by natural somnambulists ; and I 
have made some of my patients, while in a state of somnipa- 
thy, assume and maintain the body in a position, which could 
not be borne in the waking state. In a preceding page is a 
letter from a natural sleep-waker, who describes feats done 
by himself in this state, which he was utterly unable to do 
when wide awake. 

6. Effects of contact with others. Every pathetist must 
have noticed the curious effects produced by merely touching 
persons of this peculiar sensibility, whether they be touched 
by the operator or any other person. By a mere touch I have, 
times without number, given to the body of the patient, when 
awake, any desirable tendency or motion, or even deprived it 
of the power of locomotion entirely. So it is said of these 
virgins : — 

" The chaplain desired me to touch her hand, when the 
slightest pressure of my finger upon hers, made her own fall 
several inches, and put her into a swinging motion from side 
to side. This movement was considerably increased by the 
same person blowing at her gently with his breath, so exceed- 
ingly serial and unsubstantial is her frame." 

The above is a specimen of the manner of experimenting^ 
practised by the Papist priests on the "virgins of the Tyrol." 

Again: we know how instinctively some somnipathists 
shrink from the touch of persons. Just so these virgins : 

14 During this period, her right arm hung down partly be- 
yond the bed; I touched her hand, when it shrunk from the 
touch like the leaf of a sensitive plant, and then, like it, re- 
mained in the new position which it had assumed." - 

7. Manner of inducing and removing the ecstacy. I have 
had numerous patients, who would fall instantly into this 
state by merely touching them, and some who would sink 



SOMNIUM TRANCE — SOMNAMBULISM. 187 

into it by merely looking at them ; and others, who fell into it 
when seated in the same chair where they had frequently 
been put to sleep before. Precisely so these " Virgins of the 
Tyrol" : 

"When her confessor [in another place the priests are 
called " the keepers of her conscience, ] sees occasion to re* 
quire it, she falls at his bidding into this state." 

And thus she is brought out of it : 

" Yet, with all this, it requires no effort, no noise, nor 
hardly any ostensible agency, to break the spell ; a gentle 
touch or whisper from her confessor, or any ecclesiastic with 
whom she is acquainted, is sufficient to dissolve the charm, 
completely and at once." 

I might trace the identity between these cases and the or- 
dinary cases of somnambulism still further, were it necessary, 
But the above is sufficient to put this fact beyond all doubt in 
every candid, unprejudiced mind. But the devoted Papist 
will remind me, that I have not noticed two of the most re- 
markable miracles described in these cases ; and he will ask 
how I account for the " Stigmata"? For instance, there are 
plates giving the appearance of these virgins, and one cf them 
is represented as bleeding in the forehead and temples, the 
outside and inside of the hands, and in the insteps of the feet, 
and also in the side, in resemblance of the places in the body 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, where he was wounded when cruci- 
fied ! And we are told, that the blood is seen to ooze from 
these wounds every Friday, and while the patient lies upon 
her back the blood from thy insteps actually runs upwards to- 
wards her toes, instead of following the laws of gravitation 
downward. Nor is this the most of this story, for it is added, 
that one of these virgins " has neither cat, ?ior drank, nor 
slept, for more than eight years!!!" And to prove this ac- 
count true, the bock refers to another case, where a Papist is 

! said to have lived "for twenty years in perfect health and 

I strength," without tasting food at all !!! 

All I have to say to these representations is, to affirm their 
falsehood. And lies so monstrous, puts the shade of doubt on 



188 PATHETISM* 

the other details in this book, though one could otherwise 
readily admit the truth of many of them, and this, too, with- 
out supposing there was anything of the miraculous in them. 

The blood may have been produced by themselves, or 
friends, by punctures or otherwise ; or those appearances may 
have been induced by the laws of sympathy described in a 
preceding chapter— the same that produced the words, " Na- 
poleon Empereur," in the eyes of a foetus some years ago. A 
state of intense mental effort, long continued, has been known 
to cause the hair to change from black to gray or white, in a 
few hours, and to produce other physical changes, remarkable 
enough to be supposed " miraculous" by those who know no 
better.* 

The case of a lady in Vincennes, Indiana, has been described 
to me by a scientific gentleman of this city, presenting pheno- 
mena every way asm iraculous as the foregoing. After some 
irregularities which had been noticed in her system, she had 
frequent discharges of hard substances, of the consistency of 
bone, from directly below the left eye. These discharges left 
no fissures in the skin, and the bones, as they seemed to be, 
exuded in a liquid form, and in a moment would fall hard 
upon the floor. 

The case of another lady in Salem, Mass. may be referred 
to, as exceeding the Tyrol Virgins in the miraculous. For 
eleven years she has not been noticed to sleep at all; and the 
various positions into which she is thrown by convulsions, are 
said to be almost incredible. Sometimes she is elevated from 
her bed, in an instant, perpendicularly ; and at other times 
pinned to the wall, or made to spin like a top, without the 
least effort. 

* Many of the Papists, who affect to deny that the above cases have 
any resemblaEce to somnambulism, cannot certainly be ignorant of the 
fact, that one of their priests, named F. Girard, was tried in France, in 
1733, for the liberties he took with a femaJe, whom he was in the habit 
of throwing into a state of trance. That female declared, that Girard 
had bewitched her; and many of her feats, after being thrown into 
trance by Girard, were as remarkable as anything done by the Tyrol 
Virgins. Nor was this all. This female had the true "stigmata" in 
her hands, side, feet, and forehead, and which, it is said, the Catholic 
priest manifested his adoration for, by applying his lips to the places 
in ft peculiar manner, quite too often for his own credit. 



SOMNIUM — TRANCE — SOMNAMBULISM. 189 

My patients possess the power of throwing themselves into 
these singular conditions. A gentleman, well known in Phi- 
ladelphia, is remarkable for this susceptibility, as in a few 
minutes he can voluntarily sink into a state of unconscious- 
ness, precisely like those already described. I had the fol- 
lowing account from Dr. Cleaveland, of Providence, R. I. : — 

A young lady of that city who had been pathetised, was 
frequently known to throw herself into this condition, and 
especially when anything offended her. At one time, she de- 
sired the loan of a book of a near neighbor, but which she 
could not obtain at the time she wanted it. Feeling some- 
what piqued, she retired to her room, and throwing herself 
upon her bed, sunk to sleep. Soon after her friends heard her 
voice, and on approaching her found that she was repeating 
something, as if reading. Suspecting what was going on, one 
of the persons present was despatched to the house where 
that book was, from which she was supposed to be reading. 
The somnist soon after stopped her reading, and commenced 
weeping, in a fit of anger declaring that some one had taken 
the book away. The person, on entering, declared that she 
found the book lying on the table, and had taken and removed 
it into another room. The Bramins in India are said to pos- 
sess this power ; and the case of one is detailed,* who was 
inclosed in a wooden box for thirteen days without food or 
drink, and who was actually buried four weeks, and remained 
without food, and almost without air, in a state of apparent 
death. He was taken out of his grave perfectly senseless, his 
eyes closed, his hands cramped and powerless, his stomach 
shrunk very much, and his teeth so completely jammed toge- 
ther, that his mouth had to be opened with an iron instrument 
before they could pour a little water down his throat. 

A history of almost any ordinary case of somnipathy would 
be the mere repetition of the foregoing facts, and of hundreds 
of others of a similar character, the accounts of which have 
been published from age to age, and never doubted by any 

* India Jour. Med. and Phys, Science. 



190 FATHETISM. 

one pretending to any knowledge of psychology. But these 
few cases are given here, to prove the following facts : — 

1. That persons of a peculiar temperament are susceptible 
to the influence of certain agencies, which bring on, at times, 
a state resembling sleep, in which the external senses are 
closed. 

2. That while in this state, these persons perform actions 
which they could not do in the normal state. 

3. That on suspension of the external senses, there is deve- 
loped in them an independent sense — a sense which sometimes 
takes accurate knowledge of things present and absent. 

4. And yet, at the same time, this sense may be deceived, 
so that the person may fancy he sees ©r tastes, or even does 
things, which have no existence except in his own apprehen- 
sion. 



CHAPTER XII. 

SECOND SIGHT, TRANSPOSITION OF THE SENSES, DOUBLE CONSCI- 
OUSNESS, PRESENTIMENTS, PROPHETIC DREAMS, WITCHCRAFT. 

It will answer my purpose to give a specimen of each of 
these states ; and when examined in connection with the laws 
of sympathy already defined, it is presumed the reader will 
be at no loss in tracing them to those causes, whieh, it must 
be acknowledged, are more or less concerned in their produc- 
tion. 

1. Second Sight. 
Many accounts of apparitions, visions, kc. which have been 
published, are either so palpably false, or so mixed up with 
superstitious fabrications, that they are not worth a moment's 
notice. The following details are, no doubt, correctly given, 
and may be depended upon as a faithful account of what ac- 
tually took place. It was drawn up by M. Nicoli, of himself, 
and shows but too plainly, how it was that his susceptibility 
was wrought upon sufficiently to enable him to have the per- 
ceptions he describes: 

During the latter ten months of the year 1790, I had expe- 
rienced several melancholy events, which affected me par- 
ticularly in September, from which time I suffered an almost 
uninterrupted series of misfortunes, which afflicted me with 
the most poignant grief. I was accustomed to be bled twice 
a year; this was done on the 9th of July, but was omitted 
to be repeated at the end of the year. Less blood had conse- 
quently been evacuated in 1790, than was usual with me; 
and from September I was constantly occupied in business 
which required the most unremitted exertion, and which was 
rendered still more perplexing by frequent interruptions. 

In January and February of the year 1791, I had the addi- 



192 PATHETISM. 

tional misfortune to experience several unpleasant circum- 
stances, which were followed, on the 24th February, by a most 
violent altercation. My wife and another person came into my 
apartment, at ten o'clock in the morning, in order to console 
me, but I was too much agitated by a series of incidents 
which had most powerfully affected my moral feelings, to be 
capable of attending to them. On a sudden I perceived at a 
distance of about ten paces, a form like that of a deceased 
person. I pointed at it, asking my wife whether she did not 
see it ? It was but natural that she should not see anything; 
my question therefore alarmed her much, and she sent directly 
for a physician. The phantasm continued about eight min- 
utes. I grew at length more calm, and being extremely ex- 
hausted, fell into a restless slumber which lasted about half 
an hour. The physician ascribed the apparition to violent 
mental excitement, and hoped there would be no return ; but 
the violent agitation of my mind had in some way, disordered 
my nerves, and produced further consequences, which de- 
serve a more minute description. 

At four o'clock in the afternoon, the form which I had seen 
in the morning, re-appeared. I was by myself when this 
happened, and being rather uneasy at the incident, went to 
my wife's apartment; but there likewise I was followed by 
the apparition, which however disappeared at intervals, and 
always presented itself in a standing posture. Aboiat 6 o'clock 
there appeared also walking figures, which had no connection 
with the first. 

I cannot assign any other cause for all this, than a contin- 
ued rumination on the vexations I had endured, which, 
though calmer, I could not forget, and the consequences of 
which I meditated to counteract. These agitations occupied 
my mind three hours after dinner, just when digestion com- 
menced. I consoled myself at length with respect to the dis- 
agreeable incident which had occasioned the first apparition ; 
but the phantasms continued to increase and change in the 
most singular manner, though I had taken the proper medi- 
cines, and found myself perfectly well. 

When the first terror was over, as I beheld these phan- 
tasms without great emotion, whilst taking them for what 
they really were — the remarkable consequences of an indis- 
position, I endeavored to collect myself as much as possible, 
that I might preserve a clear consciousness of the changes 
that should inwardly take place in me. I observed these 
phantasms very closely, and frequently reflected on my ante- 
cedent thoughts, to discover, if possible, by means of what as- 
sociation exactly these forms presented themselves to my im- 
agination. I thought at times I had found a clue; but tak- 



SECOND SIGHT. 193 

ing the whole together, I could not make cut any natural 
connection between the state of my mind, my occupations, 
train of thoughts, and the multifarious forms which now ap- 
peared to me, and then again disappeared. After repeated 
and close observations, and a calm examination, I was unable 
to form any conclusion relative to the origin and duration of 
the different phantasms which presented themselves to me. 
All that I could infer was, that while my nervous system 
was in such an irregular state, such phantasms would appear 
to me as if I actually saw and heard them, that these illusions 
were not modified by any known laws of reason, imagination, 
or the common association of ideas, — and that probably other 
people, who may have had similar apparitions, were exactly 
in the same predicament. The origin of the individual forms 
which appeared to me, was undoubtedly founded on the state 
of my mind; but the manner in which it was thus affected, 
will probably remain as inscrutible as the origin of thought 
and reflection. 

After the first day, the form of the deceased person no 
longer appeared, but in its place many other phantasms, some- 
times representing acquaintances, but mostly strangers. 
Those whom I knew, consisted of both living and deceased 
persons, but the number of the latter was comparatively 
small. I observed, that persons with whom I daily convers- 
ed did not appear as phantasms, these representing chiefly 
persons who lived at some distance from me. I attempted 
to produce at pleasure phantasms of persons whom I knew, 
by attentively reflecting on their countenance, shape, &c. ; 
but distinctly as I recalled to my lively imagination the res- 
pective shapes of these persons, I still laboured in vain to 
make them appear to me as phantasms, though I had before 
involuntarily seen them in that manner, and perceived them 
some time "after, when I least thought of them. These 
phantasms appeared to me contrary to my inclination, as if 
they were presented to me from without like the phenomena 
of nature, though they existed no where but within my mind. 
I could at the same time, plainly distinguish between phan- 
tasms and real objects ; and the calmness with which I ex- 
amined them, enabled me to avoid committing the smallest 
mistake. I knew it exactly when it only appeared to me 
, that the doer was opening and a phantasm entering the room, 
: and when it actually opened, and a real person ante 

These phantasms appeared to me equally clear and dis- 

. tinct at all times and under all circumstances— both when I 

I was alone and when I was in company, as well in the day 

i as at night, and in my own house as well as abroad. They 

were, however, less frequent when I was in the house of a, 

R 



394» PATHETISM. 

friend, and rarely appeared to me in the street. When I 
shut my eyes, these phantasms would sometimes disappear 
entirely, though there were instances when I beheld them 
with my eyes closed ; yet when they disappeared on such 
occasions, they generally re-appeared when I again opened 
my eyes. I conversed occasionally with the physician and 
my wife, respecting the phantasms which surrounded me at 
the moment. They appeared more frequently walking than 
at rest, nor were they constantly present. They frequently 
did not appear for some time ; but always re-appeared for a 
longer or shorter period, either singly or in company, the lat- 
ter, however, was most often the case. 

I generally saw human forms of both sexes ; but they usu- 
ally seemed not to take the smallest notice of each other, 
moving as in a market place, where all are eager to press 
through a crowd. At times, however, they seemed to be 
transacting business with each other. I also repeatedly saw 
people on horseback, dogs, and birds. All these phantasms 
appeared to me in their natural size, and as distinct as if 
alive, exhibiting different shades of carnation in the uncover- 
ed parts, as well as different colours and fashions of their 
dress, though the colours seemed to me paler than in real na- 
ture. None of the figures appeared particularly terrible, 
comical, or disgusting; most of them being of an indifferent 
shape, and some haying a. pleasing appearance. The longer 
these phaniasms continued to appear, the more frequently 
did they return, whilst at the same time they increased in 
number. 

About four weeks after their first appearance, I began also 
to hear them speak. They sometimes conversed among 
themselves, but more frequently they directed their discourse 
to me. Their speeches were commonly short, and never of 
an unpleasant tenor. Several times I saw beloved and sensi- 
ble friends of both sexes, whose addresses tended to appease 
my grief, which had not wholly subsided. These consolatory 
speeches were in general addressed to me when I was alone; 
sometimes, however, I was accosted by these consoling 
friends whilst in company, even while real persons were 
speaking to me. These consolatory addresses consisted some- 
times of abrupt phrases, &«d at t others they were regularly 
connected. - X ■' $ ... 

Though both my mind and body were irra tolerable state 
of sanity at this time, and these phantasms became so famil- 
iar to me, that they they did not cause me the slightest un- 
easiness — I even sometimes amused myself with surveying 
them, and spoke jocularly of them to the physician and my 



TRANSPOSITION OF THE SENSES. 195 

wife, — yet I did not neglect to use the proper medicines, es- 
pecially when they began to haunt me the whole day, and 
even at night as soon as I awoke. 

At last it was agreed that leeches should again be applied 
to me, as formerly, which was accordingly done on the 20th 
April, 1791, at eleven o'clock in the morning. No one 
was with me besides the surgeon, but during the operation, 
my chamber was crowded wi)h human phantasms of all des- 
criptions. This continued without interruption, till about 
half-past four, just when my digestion commenced. I then 
perceived, that they began to move more slowly ; soon after, 
their colours began to fade ; and at seven o'clock they were 
entirely white, and moved very little, though the forms were 
as distinct as before ; growing, however, by degrees more ob- 
scure, yet not fewer in number, as had generally been the 
case. The phantasms did not withdraw, nor did they vanish, 
which previous to that time had frequently occurred. They 
now seemed to dissolve in the air, whilst fragments of them 
continued visible a considerable time. About eight o'clock 
the room was entirely cleared of my fantastic visitors. 

Since that period, I have felt twice or three times a sensa- 
tion as if these phantasms were going to re-appear, without 
however actually seeing any thing. The same sensation sur- 
prised me just before I drew up this account, whilst I was 
examining some papers relative to these apparitions, which I 
had drawn up in the year 179L* 

Can it be a matter of doubt, as to the true cause of these 
visions ? And if these sights arise from the derangement of 
the cerebral functions, is it unreasonable to suppose, that 
others have arisen from the same cause ? By placing my fin- 
gers on particular portions of the head, I have often caused 
my subjects to have similar visions, and which, to themselves, 
appeared as real as any thing they ever saw in the normal 
state. 

2. Transposition of the Senses. 
The following extraordinary case of catalepsy occurred at 
Bologna, (Italy,) in 1841, I believe, and was witnessed by 
Drs. Viscarti, Casina, and Mazzacorati, who published the fol- 
lowing account of it. Here we have " vision without the 
eye," and that transposition of the senses referred to in the 
preceding pages of this work. 

* Theory of Pneumatology, p. 402. 



196 PATHETISM. 

A young woman, aged twenty-five years, on the 10th of 
September last, fell into a complete state of catalepsy, which 
recurred regularly for forty-two days consecutively. 

During the first thirty days, the fit began at noon and ended 
at midnight; but afterwards, it was of less duration. The 
patient, so long as the paroxysm lasted, presented the ordinary 
appearances of catalepsy ; that is, an aptness to assume and 
retain all manner of inconvenient and unnatural postures, and 
a general insensibility to the most forcible physical impres- 
sions. # * # 

We have said that her body was not capable of feeling the 
most forcible impressions, nor such as were most calculated 
to produce pain; but this was not the case with all parts of 
her body. A most exquisite sensibility remained about the 
epigastric region, in the palms of her hands, and the soles of 
her feet. These parts became supplementary organs of the 
senses, and through them she could receive external impres- 
sions, not spontaneously, but only when her attention was 
roused by the experimenters. At first, it was necessary to 
speak immediately against the parts that retained their sensi- 
bility; afterwards, it was sufficient if the speaker merely 
touched any one of those parts ; and still later, it was'enough 
if he were in communication, though at some distance, with 
the person who was in actual contact with those parts. She 
never spoke unless spoken to. "When questioned in the man- 
ner described, she answered in the same tone of voice that 
was used by the one who spoke to her; either high or low, or 
very high. Her power of hearing through those parts, was 
very extraordinary. If a person, touching her stomach with 
one hand, grasped with his other the hand of a second person 
standing further off, and the third and fourth formed in this 
manner a chain, hand in hand, and the fourth questioned her 
in the lowest possible tones, she would understand perfectly, 
and reply in the same tone. The reply continued, always, so 
long as the contact was maintained with the parts possessing 
sensibility, and ceased when that contact was interrupted; 
but she would resume the discourse when the contact was re- 
stored, at the point to which it would have reached if there 
had been no interruption. It seemed, therefore, that the reply 
was continued internally; and, indeed, when she was asked 
in such a case, why she had not spoken all the words, she al- 
ways insisted that she had pronounced them all equally. # * 

Her eyes, as we have said, were closed the first twenty-one 
days; but to be the more assured of their inactivity, the expe- 
rimenters bound them with a handkerchief well folded, and 
yet she recognised immediately the color of different bodies 
that were presented to the parts having sensibility. She could 



TRANSPOSITION OF THE SENSES. 197 

sometimes read in this way, and could always tell the hour by 
a watch. Afterward, it was not even necessary that the ob- 
jects should be in contact with her body; she could tell them 
in any part of the room; and it was only requisite for this, 
that the experimenters who were in contact with her, should 
direct her attention to the proper point. Still later, she recog- 
nised and described objects placed in another room, or in the 
street, or at a distance in places that she had never seen. 

Being requested to give a description of a convent at Bolog- 
na, and of the vaults under a country house in the neighbor- 
hood of that city, of which neither the patient nor her interro- 
gators had any knowledge, she described both minutely ; and 
her description being taken down, was found to correspond 
exactly with the facts, even including the number and posi- 
tion of the wine vessels in the cellars. 

She was once persuaded by a professor of the University, to 
name the objects that were in a certain cabinet in the college; 
she complied, and enumerated them exactly. She was asked 
what was on a certain table there, which was indicated to 
her: she said, "a book." "And what on the book ?" She 
answered, " A brain." " What brain ?" She said, " That of 
some animal." " What animal ?" She replied, that if he 
would name several, she could tell him which was the ani- 
mal, and accordingly she told correctly — the animal to which 
the brain had belonged was a leopard. She declared that she 
saw distinctly ; and she certainly described the internal organs 
of her own body, and those of other persons. Being subjected 
by the profe3sor above mentioned to an examination in anato- 
my, she described with astonishing precision the situation of 
the heart, the pancreas, the spinal marrow, and the nerves — 
their connections and uses. And when requested by the same 
professor to examine the internal condition of his female pa- 
tient, who lived at some distance, she informed him that the 
disease was in her womb, and was incurable. 

The following account was drawn up by Dr. Duvard, of 
Caen, and published in the Gazette Medicale at Paris, about 
one year since. 

Mademoisle Melanie has enjoyed good health up to the age 
of twenty-one, when she began to suffer from dry cough, 
with pain in the chest and headache; in January 1841, she 
was attacked on the right side, and since then has continued 
to suiTer from pain in that region; the catamenia now de- 
creased in quantity, and was finally arrested. 

In the month of July 1841, I was first called on to visit the 
patient; she then exhibited all the signs of pleuritic effusiou. 



198 PATHETISM. 

After a variety of treatment continued for several weeks, a 
seton was inserted in the patient's side and she was compel- 
led to have an enema — a remedy* which she had previously 
refused to submit to. A few hours after the administration 
of the enema she was seized with a most violent attack of 
hysteria, which continued for several hours. The attacks of 
hysteria recurred, with the same violence, for several succes- 
sive days, and seemed to he excited by the ingestion of food, 
which she continued to eat with avidity, in spite of remon- 
strances. 

Six days after the first attack of hysteria, the patient be- 
came suddenly dumb, and continued so for three days, being 
unable to articulate a single word; on the fourth day she re- 
covered the power of speech, at the termination of a severe 
hysterical attack ; the surprise, however, expressed by those 
about her at hearing her speak, threw her into a fresh fit, 
which lasted for three hours, and ended in catalepsy ; this 
was on the 30th of August, 1841. From this period the pa- 
tient was seized every day with several attacks of catalepsy? 
alternating with hysteria, and lasting about half an hour. 

During the cataleptic accesses there was complete insensi- 
bility of every part of the body ; the limbs remained in the 
most fatiguing positions without stirring ; the respiratory 
movements were imperceptible, and the pulsations of the 
heart which could scarcely be felt, were from 60 to 70 a min- 
ute. After a few days the cataleptic fits became longer, and 
lasted for several hours, being, however, occasionally inter- 
rupted for a minute or two, whenever the girl coughed. 
Sometimes she would turn round in her bed or sit up ; at 
others she would suddenly start up, without opening her 
eyes, and place herself on the edge of the bed, or on some 
piece of furniture, in a most fatiguing posture; in this state 
she would remain, until a fit of coughing came on, or until 
she was brought back to her bed. Although the eies were 
constantly shut, she avoided every obstacle carefully, and 
seemed heedless of risks which would have alarmed any one 
in a normal state. On one occasion she left her bed during a 
fit of coughing, ran to the window and opened it; before any 
one could come to her assistance, she had one foot out of 
the window, but the cough suddenly ceased, she became cat- 
aleptic, and remained in the same position until some people 
came and placed her in bed. 

When the fits of hysteria and catalepsy ceased, the pa- 
tient recovered all her acuities, and merely complained of fa- 
tigue, and her ordinary pain at the side. 

Five weeks after the first attack of catalepsy, Mdle. Me- 
lanie fell several times into a state of natural somnambulism. 



TRANSPOSITION OF THE SENSES. 199 

She would get up without opening her eyes, walk about her 
room, arrange her furniture, and enter into conversation with 
those about her, often mentioning circumstances which she 
would have wished to conceal ; after remaining in this state 
for several hours, she fell into a state of catalepsy, indicated 
by apparent suspension of the respiration and complete si- 
lence. 

On the 12th of October, a few days after her first access of 
somnambulism, I found the patient in a state of catalepsy. 
Having placed my hand on the epigastric region, I noticed 
that her countenance became expressive of pain. I then placed 
my lips on the pit of her stomach, and asked her several ques- 
tions; to my astonishment she answered correctly, for al- 
though I had read most of the histories of this kind, recorded 
in different works, I did not believe one of them. During 
this first examination I made numerous experiments, which 
led me to conclude that there was a transposition of the Jive 
senses to the pit of the stomach. On the evening of this day 
I made fresh experiments, during three hours, in the presence 
of numerous witnesses, who were not less surprised than my- 
self. In a word, during two months, I renewed the experi- 
ments daily and often several times a day, making use of ev- 
ery precaution to avoid deception, and having numerous wit- 
nesses around me. I shall now relate, the results of these 
experiments. 

During the cataleptic state the muscles presented three dif- 
ferent conditions : — Sometimes they were all relaxed, and the 
limbs could be placed in any position, which they retained, 
however fatiguing the posture might be; at other times all 
the muscles were in a state of rigid contraction; at others 
again they were relaxed, and the limbs fell down when raised 
from the body. 

There was no sensibility in any part of the body, except 
over the pit of the stomach, the palms of the hands, and soles 
of the feet. Thus we might pinch the skin or pierce it with 
pins, pull out the hair, tickle the nose, &c, without eliciting 
any sign of feeling. On the contrary, if the pit of the stom- 
ach, soles of the feet, or palms of the hands were touched, 
even with the point of a feather, the girl immediately with- 
drew the part touched, and her countenance indicated displeas- 
ure. When a Leyden jar was placed in communication with 
the parts just named, she had a violent commotion, or was 
suddenly awakened, but the jar might be discharged on any 
other part of the body without producing the slightest effect. 
The ears appeared to be insensible to sound, the loudest 
noise did not attract her attention; but when a small bell 
was agitated over the sensitive parts, her countenance show- 



200 f>AT££TISM. 

ed she heard the noise. If the lips were placed in contact 
with the sensitive parts, she heard every thing that was said, 
although the voice was so low that it could not possibly reach 
her ears. Her answers were delivered in an exceedingly low 
tone, and generally speaking, the person appointed to catch 
them would repeat them without hearing the question 
asked. 

The patient never spoke, except when her limbs were in a 
state of relaxation; during the rapid cataleptic state the 
tongue and organs of speech were immoveable. 

The senses of taste and smell were not exercised by their 
natural organs, but were very acute in the sensitive parts. 
Thus we filled the nose with assafostida, or tobacco; placed 
bottles of ether, concentrated ammonia, &c, under the nose 
without producing the least effect; but when a small portion 
of a sapid body was placed in contact with the sensitive parts 
the patient distinguished it at once. Thus she recognised 
and named, one after another, the syrups of poppies, vinegar, 
gum, and capillaire, wine, water, orange flower water, Seid- 
litz water, currant jelly, &c, although only one or two drop3 
of each substance was placed on the palm of her hand. 
When a few grains of snuff were placed on the sole of her 
foot, she sneezed at once, and thus easily distinguished at 
once French snuff from English snuff. 

Although the results of my first experiments induced me 
to think the sense of vision was transposed as we]l as other 
senses, subsequent trials showed that what I had regarded as 
vision, was nothing more than an exquisite sense of touch. 
When an object was placed on any of the sensitive points,* 
and she was asked if she saw it, she asv/ered i Yes,' and im- 
mediately named the object if she was acquainted with it, or 
if not gave a correct description of the body. Thus she al- 
ways detected a watch, when placed over the pit of the stom- 
ach, and never failed to tell whether it was made of gold or 
silver, going or stopping. If asked the hour, she would an- 
swer pretty correctly as to the true time of day; but if the 
hands of the watch were designedly changed, she always 
failed to tell the time they marked. She could distinguish 
and name every kind of French coin placed in her hand, but 
not the name of the sovereign in whose reign they were 
struck; she could distinguish a bit of silk from a bit of cloth, 
but not their respective colors. 

At the second sitting, she succeeded in spelling the word 
commerce, written in large letters, and placed upon the pit of 
the stomach; this required considerable efforts, and she com- 

* What I have called the " sympathetic points." 



DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS. 201 

plained for a long time of fatigue; in subsequent experiments 
however, she was never able to distinguish any of the letters 
of the alphabet, when placed in contact with sensitive parts. 
"Whenever I asked her to point out the seat of her disease, 
and indicate to us the appropriate remedies, she refused — an- 
swering that such was my business, and not hers. 

I have seen the foregoing account published in the London 
Medico-Chirurgical Review, New-York Lancet, and other 
medical works, without a word of doubt. But the same state, 
induced by pathetism, would be treated as humbuggery. 

3. Double Consciousness. 

I know a lady, who tells me she is frequently conscious of 
being transferred, as it were, from one state to another, alto- 
gether different, each of them having feelings and perceptions 
of things entirely different from each other. 

A case was published in the Medical Repository a few years 
ago, of a lady who fell into a profound sleep ; and when she 
waked up, she was found to have lost all recollection of her 
previous life, even Pier memory of words and things was gone, 
so that she had to learn every thing anew. And, after study- 
ing for some time to acquire the use of words, she again fell 
into a state of somnium, and on awaking from this she re- 
membered every thing she had forgotten after the first fit of 
sleeping; and what was still more singular, she now forgot 
every thing which had transpired after the first attack. And 
for a series of years she alternately passed from one of these 
states to the other, in one of which her memory of things 
was entirely distinct from the other. 

Dr. Devan read to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, in Feb- 
ruary, 1822, the history of a case, observed by Dr. Dyer of 
Aberdeen, in a girl 16 years old, which lasted from 2d of 
March to 11th of June, 1815. The first symptom was an un- 
common propensity to fall asleep in the evenings. This was 
followed by a habit of talking in her sleep on those occasions. 
One evening she fell asleep m this manner: imagining her- 
self an episcopal clergyman, she went through the ceremony 
of baptising three children, and gave an appropriate prayer. 
Her mistress shook her by the shoulders, en which she 
awoke, and appeared unconscious of everything, except that 



202 PATHETISM. 

she had fallen asleep, of which she showed herself ashamed. 
She sometimes dressed herself and the children while in this 
state, or, as Miss L. called it, * dead asleep;' answered ques- 
tions put to her in such a manner as to show that she under- 
stood the question; but the answers were often, though not 
always, incongruous. One day in this state she sat at break- 
fast, with perfect correctness, with her eyes shut. She after- 
wards awoke with the child on her knees, and wondered how 
she got on her clothes. Sometimes the cold air awakened 
her; at other times she was seized with the affection whilst 
walking out with the children. She sang a hymn delight- 
fully in this state; and from a comparison which Dr. Dyer 
had an opportunity of making, it appeared incomparably bet- 
ter done than when awake. In the mean time a still more 
singular and interesting symptom began to make its appear- 
ance. The circumstances which occurred during the par- 
oxysm were completely forgotten by her when the paroxysms 
were over, but were perfectly remarked during subsequent 
paroxysms. Her mistress said, that when in this stupor, on 
subsequent occasions, she told her what was said to her on the 
evening when she baptised the children. A depraved fellow 
servant, understanding that she wholly forgot every transac- 
tion that occurred during the fit, clandestinely introduced a 
young man into the house, who treated her with the utmost 
rudeness, whilst her fellow servant stopped her mouth with 
the bed-clothes, and otherwise overpowered a vigorous resist- 
ance which was made by her even during the influence of her 
complaint. Next day she had not the slightest recollection 
even of that transaction ; nor did any person interested in her 
welfare know of it for several days, till she was in one of her 
paroxysms, when she related the whole fact to her mother. 
Next Sunday she was taken to church by her mistress, while 
the paroxysm was on her. She shed tears during the ser- 
mon, particularly during the account given of the execution 
of three young men at Edinburgh, who had described, in their 
dying declarations, the dangerous steps in which their career 
of vice and infamy took its commencement. When she re- 
turned home, she recovered in a quarter of an hour, was quite 
amazed at the questions put to her about the church sermon, 
and denied that she had been to any such place; but next 
night, on being taken ill, she mentioned that she had been to 
church, repeated the words of the text, and, in Dr. Dyer's 
hearing, gave an accurate account of the tragical narrative of 
the three young men, by which her feelings had been so 
powerfully affected.* 

* Dr, Spurzheim, Phrea. p. 78 ; sqq. 



PRESENTIMENTS. 203 

A number of similar cases were stated before the Royal 
Medical and Chirurgical Society, Feb. 28, 1843. One by Dr. 
Webster, of a patient who believed himself to be another per- 
son, at the same time. In one state, he disavows the opinions 
and proceedings of the second state; and in the second state, 
inflicts punishments upon the body of the first, for imaginary 
offences, and designates himself as another by bad names 
and abuse. 

Another case was referred to by Dr. Mayo, which lasted for 
several months, and seemed to have been caused by the wo- 
man's swallowing some ointment containing gunpowder. In 
one state this woman learned and said things, which she was 
quite incapable of doing in the other. In one state she was 
pert and impudent, and in the other modest and retiring. 

This double consciousness is peculiar to many somnipath- 
ists. I have one patient, who does not remember, when 
asleep, that she was ever in any other state; and forgets all 
she sees in her sleep, as soon as restored to the waking state. 

6. Presentiments. 

Presentiment is an anticipation of something about to take 
place, to ourselves or friends. All that is real of these forebo- 
dings, may be traced to those mysterious laws of sympathy, 
which do, unquestionably, sometimes extend to minds at a 
distance, and thus make impressions upon that independent 
sense, which is more or less developed in persons of a peculiar 
temperament, as we have before seen. Nor is there any more 
difficulty in this supposition, than in the science of optics; for, 
through what medium is it, that the mind perceives those bo- 
dies which are at such immense distances from this earth, 
that it must have taken their rays of light more than thirty 
thousand years to reach the optic nerve ? And yet these rays, 
after a journey of so many thousands of years, establish a rela- 
tion between those bodies and the human mind, by which we 
have perceptions of these distant bodies. 

I have already referred to a cerebral organ, which I have 
called Prevision. WflMMfetorit «Ub>>: stem, sometimes, to 
give a most remarkable perception Y>£flUtanl contingencies; 



2(H PATHETISM. 

nor is it at all unreasonable to suppose the necessity of such 
an organ, if " holy men of old" were once inspired of God to 
foretell future events. I do not mean to be understood as 
saying, that we could " inspire," in the same sense, any one 
to foretell future events, or that the prophets were inspired 
by pathetism. What I mean is, that if the Holy Spirit in- 
spired the prophets to foretell, or have perceptions, of future 
events, it proves that there is an organ appropriated to this 
function — the same as we have one for Truth, another for 
Hope, and another for Love. For, how could man be made to 
do things, for which he had no appropriate organ ? 

I suppose the organ of Foresight to be located in the frontal 
region, between the organs of Causality ; and when it is 
largely developed, or excited in an extraordinary degree, it 
may be reached from the laws of sympathy, from various 
causes. 

An intelligent gentleman of this city, and one, by the way, 
as little given to the belief in dreams as any one I ever knew, 
gave me the following account. Business rendered it neces- 
sary for him to visit Albany. But, for some reasons to him 
altogether unaccountable, he felt very much disinclined to go. 
After vascillating for some time, he finally took one of the 
evening boats, and at the usual hour retired in his berth. He 
soon fell asleep, and dreamed that he saw his wife pale, and 
scarcely alive from the loss of blood. She was so near dead, 
that she had become quite cold, and he built a fire, that by 
warming the body he might bring her to life again. The sight 
so distressed him, that it waked him up ; but on falling again 
to sleep, he had precisely the same dream again. The cause 
of his wife's having bled to death he did not perceive, but it 
now appeared that she was cold and dead, from the loss of 
blood. 

On waking in the morning, he found it impossible to banish 
the impression which these dreams had made upon his mind; 
and soon after reaching Albany, he received a letter summon- 
ing him to return, and stating that his wife, within one hour 
after his departure, had met with an accident, from which she 
had well nigh flooded to death. On returning, he found that 



PRESENTIMENTS. 305 

she had, indeed, been go near dying, that the physicians and 
friends had given her up, supposing that nothing could by any 
means save hex life. 

When he left her. he had not anticipated anything of the 
kind, and is act conscious that such an accident ever entered 
into his mind. And i should add, that this gentleman has no 
iaith in claiivoyance* 

Notv, if this were a solitary case, we could merely say it 
was qui.e remarkable. But, when viewed in connection with 
numerous others still more remarkable it does not seem alto- 
gether unreasonable to suppose, that there may be in these 
cases certain sympathetic laws, which operate upon two or 
more minds at the same time in giving presentiments of what 
is passing, or about to take place, in other places. The fol- 
lowing cases will illustrate these laws : 

Junge Stilling, in his Almanac of 1808, relates a remarka- 
ble presen.iment of a minister, who w a shaking a walk with 
the intention of visiting a rocky mountain near his house, and 
of enjoying the beautiful view from it. While approaching 
the summit of the mountain, he felt restless and uneasy; un- 
able to explain this feeling, he asked himself, whether it was 
right for him to spend his time thus idly, and, busied in such 
thoughts, he stepped aside for a mornent to seek a cool place 
under a wall formed by the rock. He had scarcely left the 
narrow path leading to the top of the mountain, when a large 
stone, breaking loose from the rest of the rock, with great ve- 
hemence struck the spot where one mornent before he was 
standing. 

The Rev. John Dodd, one evening, when already undressed, 
felt a great agitation in his mind, which was altogether unac- 
countable to him. It seemed to him, that he ought to go and 
visit a friend, who lived a mile or two off from him. His fa- 
mily tried to dissuade him from going that night, but their 
efforts weie in vain. Mr. Dodd went, dark as it was, :\sd or. 
arriving at the house of his friend, he found him read) to 
commit sulfide. His unexpected visit and counsel prevented 
the deed tor ever, and his friend became converted by divine 
grace. 

Schiller, the great poet, was in the habit of wall 
his steward. At one time, when passing on a ragged path 
through a pine wood and between h'^li rocks, he v. 
by a feeling that some person must be buried there. S 
s 



206 ' PATHETISM, 

time after, he was informed of the murder of a wagoner com- 
mitted at the place, of which he had the presentiment,* 

5. Pkophetic Dreams. 

The same sympathetic laws which influence the suscepti- 
bility so as to give obscure perceptions of future contingen- 
cies, may affect the mind during sleep, as is proved by what 
have been called prophetic dreams. The murder of Mr. 
Adams, in this city, some two years since, by J. C. Colt, was 
anticipated by the wife of the former, before it took place. — 
Two days before her husband's disappearance, she dreamed, 
twice, that he was murdered, and that she saw his body cut 
into pieces and packed in a box. The dreams gave her great 
concern, from their vividness ; and she went once to relate 
them to her mother, but did not, from the apprehension of 
being laughed at.f 

The following is quoted from the London Times of August 
16,1828:— 

In the night of the 11th of May, 1512, Mr. Williams, of 
Scorrier house, near Redruth, in Cornwall, awoke his wife, 
and exceedingly agitated, told her, that he had dreamed that 
he was in the lobby of the House of Commons, and saw a 
man shoot with a pistol, a gentleman who had just entered 
the lobby, who was said to be the chancellor : to which Mrs. 
Williams naturally replied that it was only a dream, and re- 
commended him to be composed, and go to sleep as soon as 
he could. He did so, and shortly after again awoke her, and 
said, that he had the second time had the same dream ; 
whereupon she observed, he had been so much agitated with 
his former dream, that she supposed it had dwelt on his mind, 
and begged of him to try to compose himself, and go to sleep, 
which he did. A third time the vision was repeated; on 
which, notwithstanding her entreaties that he would be 
quiet, and endeavor to forget it, he arose, being then between 
one and two o'clock, and dressed himself. At breakfast, 
the dreams were the sole subject of conversation ; and in the 
forenoon Mr. Williams went to Falmouth, where he related 
the particulars of them to all of his acquaintance that he met. 
On the following day, Mr. Tucker of Trematon Castle, ac* 

* Rauch's Psychology, p. 132. 
j Commercial Advertiser of Oct. 11, 1841, 



PROPHETIC DREAMS. 207 

companied by his wife, a daughter of Mr. Williams, went to 
Scorrier house about"' 4 dusk. 

Immediately after the first salutations, on their entering 
the parlour, where were Mr., Mrs., and Miss Williams, Mr. 
Williams began to relate to Mr. Tucker the circumstances of 
his dream; and Mrs. Williams observed to her daughter, 
Mrs. Tucker, laughingly, that, her father could not even suffer 
Mr. Tucker to be seated, before he told him of his nocturnal 
visitation: on the statement of which, Mr. Tucker observed, 
that it would do very well for a dream to have the chancellor 
in the lobby of the House of Commons, but that he would 
not be found there in reality; and Mr. Tucker then asked 
what sort of a man he appeared to be, when Mr. Williams 
minutely described him; to which Mr. Tucker replied: Your 
description is not at all that of the chancellor, but it is cer- 
tainly very exactly that of Mr. Perceval, the chancellor of the 
exchequer; and although he has been to me the greatest en- 
emy I ever met with through life, for a supposed cause, 
which had no foundation in truth, (or words to that effect,) I 
•should be exceedingly sorry indeed to hear of his being assas- 
sinated, or of an injury of the kind happening to him. Mr. 
Tucker then inquired of Mr. Williams if he had never seen 
Mr. Perceval, and was told that he had never seen him, nor 
had ever even written to him, either on public or private 
business; in short, that he never had any thing to do with 
him, nor had he ever been in the lobby of the House of Com- 
mons in his life. Whilst Mr. Williams and Mr. Tucker were 
still standing, they heard a horse gallop to the door of the 
house, and immediately after Mr. Michael Williams of Tre- 
viner (son of Mr. Williams of Scorrier) entered the room, and 
said, that he had gallopped out from Truro, (from which 
Scorrier is distant seven miles,) having seen a gentleman 
there, who had come by that evening's mail from London, 
who said that he had been in the lobby of the House of Com- 
mons on the evening of the 11th, when a man called Belling- 
ham had shot Mr. Perceval.; and that as it might occasion 
some great ministerial changes, and might affect Mr. Tuck- 
er's political friends, he had come out as fast as he could, to 
make him acquainted with it, having heard at Truro, that he 
had passed through that place on his way to Scorrier. After 
the astonishment which this intelligence had created, had a 
little subsided, Mr. Williams described most particularly the 
appearance and dress of the man that he saw in his dream 
fire the pistol, as he had before done of Mr. Perceval. About 
six weeks after, Mr. Williams having business in town, went 
accompanied by a friend, to the House of Commons, where, 
&s has been already observed, he had never before been, 



208 PATHETISM* 

• 

Immediately that he came to the steps at the entrance of the 
lobby, he said, * This place is as distinctly within my recollec* 
tion, in my dream, as any room in my house ;' and he made 
the same observation when he entered the lobby. He then 
pointed out the exact spot where Bellinghara stood when he 
fired, and which Mr. Perceval had reached when he was 
struck by the ball, and where and how he fell. The dress, 
both of Mr. Perceval and Bellmgham, agreed with the des- 
criptions given by Mr. Williams, even to the most minute 
particular. 

The Times states, that Mr. Williams was then alive, and 
the witnesses, to whom he made known the particulars of 
his dream, were also living; and that the editor had received 
the statement from a correspondent of unquestionable ve- 
racity. 

Dr. Bians, after relating the case of Dr. Walker, of Dublin, 
who was buried alive, observes — 

" Here is a man who, as it were, possessed an instinctive 
know] edge that he should be buried alive, and who was so 
convinced of it, that he wrote a treatise, with a view if possi- 
ble to avert so horrid a calamity; and still farther to assure 
himself, entered into a compact with a second party, for the 
fulfilment of certain precautions before he should be consigned 
to earth, yet, disappointed in the end, and compelled to bow 
to the iuscrutible fiat of that law of natural contingencies 
which the imaginative Greeks erected into supenheism, and 
consecrated by the tremendous name of Destiny." 

The following case is quoted by the same author, from Dr. 
Abercrombie, who states, " that its accuracy may be relied 
on in all its particulars." 

Two sisters had been for some days attending their broth- 
er, who was suffering from a common sore-throat, severe and 
protracted, but not considered dangerous. At this time one 
of the sisters had obtained the loan of a watch from a friend, 
her own being out of repair. As this watch was a kind of heir- 
loom in the family of the lady from whom it had been bor- 
rowed, particular caution was given lest it should meet with 
some injury. Both of the sisters slept in a room adjoining 
that ci the brother's, and one night the elder awoke the 
younger in extreme alarm, and told her that she bad dreamed 
that "Mary's watch had stopped," and that when she had 



PROPHETIC DREAMS. 509 

told her of it, she had replied — "Much worse than that had 
happened, for Charles's hreath had stopped also. 1 ' To quiet 
her agitation, the younger immediately arose, proceeded to 
her brother's room, found him asleep, and the watch which 
had been carefully put away in a drawer, going correctly. 
The following night the same dream occurred, accompanied 
by the same agitation, and quieted in the same manner — the 
brother being sound asleep, and the watch going. In the 
morning, after breakfast, one of these ladies having occasion 
to write a note, proceeded to her desk, while the other sat 
with her brother in the adjoining room. Having written and 
folded the note, she was proceeding to take out the watch 
which was now in the desk, to use one of the seals appended 
to it, when she was astonished to find it had stopped, and at 
the same instant a scream from her sister hurried her to the 
bed side of her brother, who, to her grief, had just breathed 
his last, The disease was considered to be progressing fa- 
vorably, when he was seized with a sudden spasm, and died 
of suffocation. The coincidence between the stoppage of the 
watch and the death of the brother, is the most perplexing 
circumstance of the case, since the mere stopping of the 
watch, or the death of the brother, might have been explain- 
ed on very rational principles ; or had the watch stopped be- 
fore or after the death of the brother, it might have been eas- 
ily supposed to have been forgotten to be woundup; or it 
may have suffered some injury from the hurry and trepida- 
tion incidental to anguish and bereavment, but as the case is 
related, it is certainly a most extraordinary, surprising, and 
mysterious incident. 

In the Life of Sir Henry Wotten, by Isaac Walton, there is 
a dream related of Sir Henry's father, Thomas "Wotten. A 
little before his death, he dreamed that the University of 
Oxford was robbed by townsmen and poor scholars five in num- 
ber; and being that day to write to his son Henry, at Oxford, 
he thought it worth so much pains as by a postscript to his let- 
ter to make a slight inquiry of it. The letter was written 
from Kent, and came into his son's hands the very morning 
after the night on which the robbery was committed ; for the 
dream was true, and the circumstances, though not in the ex- 
act time, and by it such light was given to this work of dark- 
ness, that the five guilty persons were presently discovered 
and apprehended. Walton also says, " that Thomas Wotten c 



210 _ PATHETISM. 

and his uncle Nicolas Wotten, who was Dean of Canterbury, 
both foresaw and foretold the day of their deaths." 

Dreams of this kind have been known from the earliest 
ages of the world ; and some of the most remarkable instances 
of which may be found recorded in the Bible, Genesis xxxvii. 
5—36. 

6. Witchcraft. 

Did the limits of the present work admit of it, it would be 
an easy matter to explain all the mysteries of witchcraft, by 
the laws of the human mind developed in a preceding chap- 
ter. Take, for instance, the case of the woman who consult- 
ed the fortune teller, and who actually died the next day, ac- 
cording to his prediction. Or, the cases of the children in 
Holland, who were seized with sympathetic convulsions ; or 
either of the fanaticisms before referred to ; and notice, how 
they were spread by sympathy, or by excitement, or fear. — 
The susceptibility becomes highly developed, and moulded 
into almost any shape, which the fanaticism or whims of the 
affected ones may please to give it. 

There is not a case of witchcraft upon record, but which 
would confirm this statement. 

What more likely to bewitch an ignorant, fearful, and per- 
haps a highly susceptible person, than to charge him with 
witchcraft, as many have been, from envy or hatred ? The 
bare suspicion spreads from ear to ear, and strikes terror 
throughout the neighborhood and country where the belief in 
witches obtains. The suspected person is shunned, as being 
worse, if possible, than the devil himself; and the horror and 
fear attendant on the mere suspicion of a crime so monstrous^ 
and dreadful in its effects, prostrates all before it, and leaves 
nothing but fear and witchery in its train. 



CHAPTER XIII, 



CLAIRVOYANCE. 



Nothing, perhaps, has tended more to check the confidence 
of intelligent people in Pathetism, than the assumptions which 
have been put forth, at different times, in behalf of what has 
been called Clairvoyance. Nor is it at all surprising that per- 
sons, not familiar with the laws developed in such cases as 
have been detailed in the preceding chapter, should be stum- 
bled at these assumptions, and refuse their credence to reports 
which, to them, are as really extravagant, as if they asserted 
the actual resurrection of the dead. The human mind, when 
well balanced in the cerebral developments, is not to be con- 
vinced in this way; and hence, it is quite unphilosophical to 
attempt to bring it over, by appeals, merely, to the organs of 
marvellousness, or belief. The intellect must first be inform- 
ed — we must first have an apprehension of the laws of mind, 
and be able to see how it is, that the mind obtains its percep- 
tions in a waking normal state, before we can readily admit 
its power of seeing without the use of the eye. 

In order to fully understand the human mind, and as far as 
possible, the nature of its capabilities and exercises, of course 
we must examine it in its different states. We must dissect, 
as it were, its numerous phenomena; we must examine it in 
its sleeping state; we must analyze its operations when they 
are manifested through a diseased brain ; we must know how 
different states of the nervous system affect its mysterious 
agency, and be able to show the difference between the re- 
sults of morbid and healthy cerebral action. And hence it be- 
comes an inquiry, of the utmost importance, as to what kind 
of action the brain is subjected in the production of clairvoy- 
ance. Is it morbid, or healthy ? 

Human knowledge is the conscious perception of any posi- 
tive or relative existence. But this consciousness may exist 



212 PATHETISM. 

in various degrees in different persons, and in different de- 
grees in the same person at different times, according to the 
size and proportions of the mental organs. Undoubtedly it 
must exist in the greatest perfection in those persons, where 
the cerebral developments are the neaiest to perfection, not 
only as it respects their size and proportion, but as it regards 
their healthy exercise. It is therefore manifestly evident, 
that knowledge must be highest in those cases, where 
the brain is of the necessary size, and where the organs are 
properly balanced, and sufficiently exercised with healthy ac- 
tion; and we must admit the competency of the human mind 
in a waking state, where the mental organs are thus proper- 
ly developed and balanced, to determine on the question 
whether any given proposition be true or false. We cannot 
allow that the human mind may ever set up a standard of 
its own attainments, in any but a healthy waking state. To 
admit the reverse of this would be opening the door for the 
annihilation of all knowledge, without leaving us any availa- 
ble use of either sense or perception. 

The question is not whether the mind, in a state of som- 
nipathy, may not have a perceptions of facts, which it 
could not know in the waking state ; but it is as to whether 
the knowledge said to be obtained in this state, should form 
a standard by which all other knowledge possessed by the 
human mind, in a waking state, should be tried and judged ? 
That is, shall we judge of the knowledge said to be possessed 
by a person in this sleep, by the knowledge we have of the 
mind, and the nature and limits of evidence in the waking 
state, or shall we judge of the latter by the former? 

We have seen, that there are certainly two kinds of sleep. 
At least the nervous system of certain persons, is susceptible 
of being put into a state, which in many respects resembles 
sleep, enough to be designated by this term. And many 
have noticed the phenomena peculiar to somnium or som- 
nambulism, who wholly reject all that is said to be peculiar 
to a state of somnipathy, and this, too, when it will be seen, 
at once, that there is scarcely anything more remarkable in 
the latter than has often been known to occur in the former 
state. 



CLAIRVOYANCE, 2l3 

,But in regard to the induced clairvoyance of which such mar- 
vellous stories have been circulated, there are many things to 
be taken into the account, which should not be overlooked, 
especially by those who think they have penetrated, by this 
agency, as it were, iruo the secrets of another world. When 
this subject becomes better understood, it will not, perhaps 
be a matter of so much surprise, that different operators have 
been so frequently deceived as to the real nature of the phe- 
nomena which they may have, in some form or another, 
been the means of producing. There is something quite cap- 
tivating in rajmy of the aspects which this subject often as- 
sumes. Of the reality of " the human influence" there 
can be no reasonable doubt. Where it is used for the relief 
of human suffering, or in those cases where a state of sleep 
is produced, the mind of the operator is frequently taken by 
surprise, and carried so far from its true bias, that it be- 
comes quite ready to receive, as equal realities, whatever 
may be, in any way, associated with this strange state. 

The facts detailed in the preceding chapters of this work, 
are sufficient to demonstrate, beyond all question, that man 
has a faculty, or sense, which in some cases sees, or has ac- 
curate perceptions of things, without the use of the external 
senses. Is it not this sense which guides the feathered tribes 
in their migrations from one hemisphere to another 'i Is it 
not this sense which guides the ox in selecting two hundred 
and seventy-six kinds of herbs, and, at the same time, teaches 
him to avoid two hundred and eighteen, as unfit for food ? 
A species of spider digs a hole in the earth, about two feet 
deep, and closes it with a curious trap door, so as to deceive 
and keep out every intruder. The tortoise, though hatched 
a mile from the water, no sooner leaves its shell, than it runs 
directly to the ocean, without a guide. The sj ^osa^ 

as if moved by a prophetic instinct, prepares little cells in 
ihe earth, then she fetches spiders ami deposites one with 
each eirg, that the little ones may have food as Boon as they 
break forth from the shell. Ail animals, without instruction, 
move with perfect skill from the time of their 1 m one 

*1 a ro. to another ; and tiiev use their limbs, and Belect tK^i* 



214?" PATHETISM. 

food at the proper time and place. Mix salt and arsenic, and 
it is said a sheep will select the former from the latter, a thing 
which man could not do. 

A gentleman on one of the wharves at Edgartown, Mass., 
noticed a large spider floating on a chip ; the tide was run- 
ning out of the harbour, and the wind blowing on shore, and 
the spider after surveying all parts of his vessel, found him- 
self near the outer corner spile of tbe wharf, when, perceiving 
that he should soon drift by, he immediately began to spin 
his web. The threads were fortunately blown against the 
spile and firmly fixed. Having thus succeeded im making fast 
to the wharf, the ingenious voyager hauled along side and 
landed in safety. 

This sense has been called instinct, but it demonstrates the 
power of sensation and perception, as really as these powers 
are known to exist in the human species. True, for the exer- 
cise of perception in man, we have the largest cerebral deve- 
lopments, the strength and activity of which depend on the 
power of the vital forces, and the balance of the sympathetic 
laws before referred to ; and that this 'perceptive power in man 
is sometimes most extraordinarily developed, and transposed 
from one part of the system to another, is well known. In 
diseases of the nervous system, persons have been able to see 
without the use of the eyes, and to do things which they 
could not do when in a healthy or waking state. And cases 
have often occurred, w r here persons long sick, and enfeebled 
with disease, have, all at once, become so strong by an ex- 
citement of the cerebral system, as successfully to resist the 
strength of two or three able-bodied men. The nerves and 
muscles, in such cases, seem to possess superhuman power, 
and the brain to be endowed with a most unaccountable sus- 
ceptibility. 

The cases before the reader are abundantly sufficient to 
show, that what we call clairvoyance is simply the exercise 
of this sense, which is spontaneously developed in cases of 
dise&se or nervous derangement. And, though I doubt not 
but I have witnessed what would be considered some of the 
most remarkable cases of induced clairvoyance ever known, 



CLAIRVOYANCE. 215 

yet, I should not be willing to assume beforehand, that one 
person out of the whole would describe, without any mistake, 
what neither of us knew any thing about, till the time the 
description was given. True, I have had many such descrip- 
tions; but they have been given under circumstances which 
have taught me to be careful how I presume upon this pow- 
er, or report accounts of its exercise which will not bear the 
most rigid investigation. 

There are so many chances for mistakes, and there may be 
so many disturbing causes, that I never like to give descrip- 
tions from somnipathists, as demonstrative evidences of clair- 
voyance to those who know nothing of this phenomenon. — 
Descriptions of what is in the mind of the operator might be 
evidences of clairvoyance to him, while it would not be evi- 
dence to any other person. But these accounts, in order to 
satisfy others, should be made of things under the following 
circumstances : — 

The patient should repeatedly describe accurately, what no 
other person present knows, or what all the persons present 
know; that neither the patient nor operator had any previous 
knowledge of; and the things described should be examined 
immediate!]/ afterwards by all who heard the description, that 
they may see and judge of its accuracy. 

I have before stated, that I have frequently rendered per- 
sons clairvoyant, as it is called, without putting them into a 
state of sleep ; and in some of these cases their descriptions 
were accurate, as near as could be ascertained, as much so as 
those of persons perfectly asleep. 

I have long been fully satisfied, that the most appropriate 
and perhaps the only proper application of this power, is to 
the description and cure of disease, and to the delineation of 
hind, and the best methods for its development; as it is 
nothing more or less than the exercise of that se:ir.c by which 
we become cognizant of mind and things; that sense by 
which we obtain knowledge of every thing which is knowa- 
ble, and which seems to be peculiarly adapted to the investi- 
gations which relate to the human system. 
There are two considerations which hare produced the 



216 PATHETISM, 

conviction above stated. The first is, that all persons in a 
state of somnipathy, as well as those called natural sleep- 
wakers, have always been known to describe diseases, and 
the physiology of the human system, better than they could 
describe anything* else, Every person who is familiar with 
the induced sleep, will agree in this statement. I have had 
the testimony of some of the best and most experienced paih- 
etisers, to this face. They ail agree, that their subjects des- 
cribe, with the greatest ease and accuracy, when their atten- 
tion is directed to the human body for benevolent purposes. 
It is true, some allowance should be made for the manner in 
which patients have been educated, as somnipathists may be 
trained into habits of doing various things ; but I am certain 
that when this sleep follows an effort for their own or anoth* 
ers good, they will be more accurate in describing disease or 
the mental powers, of themselves or others, than in their de- 
scriptions of anything besides. If I am right in this supposi- 
tion, it follows that it is a perversion of this faculty when 
it is made to atempt descriptions of various articles, merely to 
gratify an idle curiosity. And it may account for the numer- 
ous failures which always occur in the attempts to produce 
what is called clairvoyance; as we know but few of what 
are called clairvoyants, have ever been able to give descrip- 
tions of things which neither they nor the operator ever saw, 
which were strictly true. Two thirds of these may be set 
down as failures, and half the other third will be found to be 
wholly or partially untrue, while the remainder is given- in 
such terms as often forbid our setting the description down as 
plain, unmixed matter of fact. 

The other consideration to which I have alluded is the fact 
that most somnipathists are not olny averse to any at- 
tempt at clairvoyance of things, but these attempts not unfre- 
quently are followed with injury to the patient. Au operator 
called on me a short time since, to relieve a patient from a fit 
ot insanity, brought on by his attempt to make her clairvoy 
ant ; but no such mischiefs follow the legitimate application 
of this agency. Where you find a Goumist or one in a state 
-.of somnipathy, their descriptions of disease, and of the men- 



CLAIRVOYANCE. 217 

tal character of others, will be spontaneous, or follow the 
wish of the operator provided the patient be properly manag- 
ed. One of the first phenomena noticed by Puyseger, (the 
first who produced a state of somnipathy of whom we have 
any account), was the knowledge which his patient seemed 
to have of his own disease ; and from that time to the pres- 
ent it has been found, that all persons in this state more read- 
ily describe their own or another's disease, or the mental dis- 
positions of others, than any thing which is not connected 
with the health or character of any one. I have subjects at 
the present time, who describe diseases with an accuracy 
truly astonishing, and what is still more remarkable, they de- 
scribe the diseases of persons whom they never saw. One 
lady in this city has described accurately the cases of numbers 
of persons, whom she never saw, and of whom she knows 
nothing in the waking state; and of part of this number, I 
knew nothing at the time. 

Sometimes we have the persons present who are to be ex- 
amined. In these cases, the somnipathist puts his hands on 
the head, and traces from different portions of the brain to 
the parts affected; and seldom have I ever known them 
to fail in finding and describing the difficulty which consti- 
tuted the disease ; and this they have ofien done when phy- 
sicians had failed altogether in their attempts to tell what the 
malady was, and also in their attempts to remove it. They 
tell me, also, in many cases what will prove the most success- 
ful in effecting a cure; and I could produce the testimony of 
scores whom I have examined in this way, who would affirm 
that these descriptions of their cases by a person in the som- 
nipathic state, were more correct and satisfactory than any 
they ever had from physicians or others. 

In this way I have obtained the most remarkable and accu- 
rate delineations of character and the mental powers of dif- 
ferent persons. This may seem to be mere fancy to some, 
I know, but I speak the words of truth and soberness. 

The first thing of this kind that attracted my attention was 
the fact, that one of my subjects never failed to tell me the 
feelings and peculiar dispositions of every one who was put 

T 



218 PATHETISM. 

in communication with her ; and some time after I had com- 
menced the course of cerebral experiments heretofore de- 
scribed in this work, I found one of my patients excessively- 
fond of putting his hands on the head of different persons, 
and when he did so he instantly sympathised with them in 
the feelings of the different organs. 

The following is a specimen : it is from the minutes of my 
experiments commenced in December, 1841. It is the des- 
cription of the head of a lecturer on phrenology, who was 
present, and who had for the first time the day before, wit- 
nessed the excitement of the phrenological organs by pathe- 
tism. After having given a correct description of his head ? 
she gave a specimen of the controversy which had been go- 
ing on during the day between his mental organs, on the 
truth of what he had seen: — 

Causality. " I don't know about it— I must examine it fur- 
ther." 

Faith. "Yes, it is true." 

Conscience. "But is it right?" 

Human Nature. "I don't know, there may be deception 
in all this." 

Acquisitiveness. " Can I make any thing by magnetism ? 
How will it affect my purse? can I make money by it ?" 

Faith. " Yes, I must believe it." 

Causality. "Hold, I must inquire more about it." 

Comparison. "Wait till I can compare it with other things 
I know, and then I can tell better." 

Mirth. "Ha, ha, ha! Faith has the majority." 

" The organs had been in such a conflict, that his brain is 
much heated and excited." 

Language of Ideas. " Says nothing, but like the girl's 
beau, looks glorious thoughts." 

The gentleman bore us witness, that he was both amused 
and not a little surprised, on hearing the thoughts of his 
mind, which he himself had never uttered, so correctly de- 
scribed by another. 

Nor is this power confined to persons in a state of somni- 
pathy, or natural somnambulism. Persons have been known 






CLAIRVOYANCE. 219 

it* different ages, who have possessed a remarkable faculty 
for arriving at a knowledge of the diseases and characters of 
others. In soma this faculty seems to be natural, and in oth- 
ers to have been acquired. 

The following are a few of the many cases of my own, 
which may be taken as specimens of the manner in which 
this faculty is exercised. 

Mr. T. applied to me, saying he had consulted physicians 
in vain for some years, and was still at a loss in determining 
what the cause of the difficulty was under which he was suf- 
fering. Nothing was said to me of his symptoms. He re- 
tired, with the promise of calling again the following day. — 
On consulting my patient, he at once said he saw the person 
to whom I referred, and described him as follows: — 

Tall, small stature, light complexion, thin light hair. His 
brain is somewhat diseased, but the difficulty of which he 
complains, is a pain located in the calf of the right leg. It is 
quite painful at times, and was caused by taking mercury 
some years ago. My patient, among other prescriptions, men- 
tioned the medicated vapor bath. 

<3n calling the next day, Mr. T. declared the description to 
be literally correct. 

About three weeks after Mr. T. called again, and on urging 
the privilege of an examination of another case, when he 
might be present, the arrangement was made accordingly. — 
The time and place having been agreed on, he came, but was 
not introduced to my patient. After putting the latter in a 
state of somnipathy, I asked him if he saw any body in the 
room with us? He answered, no. I then directed him to 
look in the direction in which Mr. T. was sitting, and at once 
he said, " Oh, this is the gentleman whom I examined some 
weeks ago, and who had the pain in the right leg. Oh, he is 
better, much better now ; he has done as I directed him to ; 
see, he is quite cheerful." The eyes of the patient were fast 
closed all this while. Mr. T. testified to the truth of what 
was said; and then handed me a lock of hair. The patient 
refused to touch the hair, but readily gave the following de- 
scription of the person to whom it had belonged: — 



220 PATHETISM. 

" It is from the head of a man. He seems to be a Christian, 
a minister of the Gospel. He is troubled with a difficulty in 
his speech, he speaks in a monotonous tone of voice. His 
throat is affected with — what do you call it ? [I said, bron- 
chitis ?] Yes, that is it. His throat is very much inflamed. 
He is not in this city, but is at a distance. He has been in the 
habit of taking some kind of stimulants, I should think tea 
and coffee, perhaps, and speaking in crowded rooms. He is 
very firm and self-confident." This account Mr. T. declared 
to be literally correct ; and he affirmed, that that person had 
long been known to be a most inveterate tea-drinker, and his 
monotonous style of speaking was known to every one who 
had ever heard him; and as an evidence of his self-confidence, 
he mentioned his boasting of his having carried his views 
against overwhelming opposition, in a recent meeting of the 
American Bible Society in this city. 

An intelligent lady applied to me for information about her 
own health; but without giving me any idea as to what it 
related. On putting my patient to sleep, she described the 
lady, and stated distinctly what it was she wanted to know. 
On giving this account to the lady, she was quite overcome, 
and confessed the account was of the precise matter concern- 
ing which she wished to be informed. 

A lock of hair was sent me from Providence, R. L, with a 
request that one of my patients should describe the person to 
whom it had belonged. There were two physicians present 
on making the examination, and one of them took down the 
following description from the lips of the somnipathist. She 
refused to touch the hair, and begged that it might not be put 
into her hand. However, I placed it in contact with her hand, 
and she immediately became convulsed from head to foot. 
She cried, and acted strangely, as if deranged. In a moment 
she became so rigid throughout the muscular system, that it 
was with some difficulty I could restore her. On being ren- 
dered calm, she said : — 

" I see him — he is a great way off. He has a good many 
complaints, caused in the first place by sudden cold. I see 
him sitting alone in a small room ; he holds his hands strange- 



CLAIRVOYANCE, 221 

iy; now he is, walking about. He once was intelligent, but 
now he does not know — his reason is lost — he is deranged. 
Oh, he is very pale. I do not like to look at him. I was af- 
fected just now as he is. He seems to be about thirty years of 
age, and has been deranged more than eight years." 

Two days after, I obtained a second description of the same 
case, from another subject, of course. This somnipathist 
knew nothing of the person to be described. On requesting 
her to examine and see if she could find the person to whom 
that hair belonged, she gave an involuntary shudder, and was 
considerably convulsed ; and described the case as follows : — 

" Oh, he is crazy, he is crazy ! Oh, do take him away — 
do, do take him away from that place. They '11 kill him ! 
Oh, it will never do for him to stay there. They have almost 
killed him, by giving him so much medicine. Oh, why did 
they make him take so much medicine ! His stomach is in a 
dreadful state. He has been crazy for eight or nine years. 
They must sweat it out of him. It would do him good to 
sweat it out of him, especially if he could be pathetised. But 
they must not keep him confined in that place; he must exer- 
cise more." 

During this description the patient complained of sickness, 
and seemed to suffer sympathetically with the person she 
was describing. 

These descriptions I sent to the sister of the person descri- 
bed, and soon after received from her the following reply : — 

Providence, R. L, Feb. 2, 1843. 

Mr. Sunderland. 

Sir, — The description of my brother's case, given by 
your clairvoyants, as to the cause of his complaint, the time it 
has been upon him, his condition, &c. is very correct. 

At the time of your examination, he had been confined in ' 
the county jail for six months; and in justice to your descrip- 
tion 1 would further state, that in the spring of 1835, when 
we first became fully convinced that he was decidedly deran- 
ged, he was conveyed to the Insane Hospital in . We 

were not permitted to receive any intelligence of him in three 
months, when we learned that he was so far reduced by their 
treatment, that they judged him unable even to ride home, a 
•distance of forty miles. At the end of about six months, we 



222 PATHETISM. 

brought him away, merely skin and bones, and in a stale of 
complete dementation. He did not know one of his family, 
and frequently crawled about on his hands and feet, like a 
beast. As his mind gradually returned, he would speak of 
his treatment at the Hospital, and said they pumped medicine 
into his stomach three or four times a week, and sometimes 
this was clone at midnight. By some means, while there he 
was deprived of the use of his left arm and hand, and has not 
been able to straighten three of his fingers on the other hand 
from that time to this. Respectfully, 

Waity A. Mowry. 

Mr. 0. Wilmarth, of Providence, R. I., may be called on 
for a confirmation of the above account. 

It has long been a question, upon which different patheti- 
sers have found it difficult to agree, as to whether the patient 
obtains his knowledge from the mind of the operator, or inde- 
pendently of him. The true answer undoubtedly is, they ob- 
tain their perceptions in different ways. That the foregoing 
descriptions were not given from sympathy v/ith my own 
mind, is certain; for I had ho views of the cases. And yet, it 
will be found that somnipathists do often sympathise with 
the views and feelings of the operator to such a degree, that 
he merely gives his views and feelings upon the subject in- 
quired about. Nor do some pathetisers seem to be aware, 
how very easy it is to give a somnipathist an apprehension of 
the desired answer, by the manner of pressing the question. 
Hence I could place little or no dependence on the reported 
descriptions of any patient, unless I knew all the circumstan- 
ces of the case, and especially as to how the questions were 
put in order to get the information.* 

* I have known of a number of cases like the following : — 
A patient by some means had been thrown into severe convulsions, 
while in the somnipathic state. The operator, unable to relieve her, 
inquired of her (she was said to be clairvoyant) to know how she 
could be relieved ; but she could not tell. I was sent for, and relieved 
hex instantly, without, however, showing the operator how I did it. A 
4ew4ays after, the same patient was alarmingly convulsed again ; but 
now, she directed the operator to relieve her in the very way I had 
,done before, This was considered, by the operator, as a valuable dis- 
covzry 1 

Another operator put a patient of mine to sleep, and on questioning 
&er, she directed him as to the best process for putting one to sleep, 
dm waking him up. It was the very process by which I had always 



CLAIRVOYANCE. 223 

The following experiments are interesting, inasmuch as 
they were performed on a person perfectly blind, (the same 
one referred to in a preceding chapter,) and under the inspec- 
tion of an intelligent committee, as before stated. 

Each of the patient's answers, except when the action of 
the cerebral organs were suppressed or excited, were of the 
things known to the operator; and hence it is certain, that she 
got her knowledge, in these cases, by sympathy with his 
mind; as she could tell nothing, when asleep, which depend- 
ed upon the sense of sight or hearing, which was not known 
to him. 

To render the proceedings more satisfactory, the committee 
was appointed to determine on the order of proceeding, and 
to see that there could be no collusion between the operator 
and the patient. 

On being put to sleep, a stranger went up and was put in 
communication with her. In answer to the questions put to 
her, she stated his name, (Eddy,) and the number of his resi- 
dence, 17 Park Place. 

A card was held orer her head ; she told what it was, and 
pronounced the name (Stewart) written upon it, correctly. 

A piece of paper was placed over her head which had the 
following letters, prominently written upon it: — A. H: 0. R. 
S. V. Z. She pronounced all the letters except one. 

The following figures were next read: 1. 3. 4. 7. 8. 0. 6. 
A piece of paper with a red wafer was held over her head. 



\noiner sun more -unporianc ~ uiscovery, was maae in me iouow- 
; manner. With the patient in whom 1 first excited the mental or- 
is, by touching various places in the face, I had had frequent con- 
■satio'ns in the somnipathic state, to find out what she would state in 



operated on that same patient ; but the operator in this case, thought 
it a most important discovery* 

Another still more important u discovery," was made in the follow- 
ing i 
gans, 

versations i 

relation to Dr. H. H. Sherwood's hypothesis of the polarity of the 
human brain. Socn after exciting her mental organs from different 

1)oints in the face and neck, another person put her to sleep, and asked 
ler what these points in the face were. u Oh, 5 ' said the patient, u they 
are the poles of the mental organs. M And u upon this hint'' that same 
person reported himself as having made the discovery of the u poles of 
the cerebral organs ;" and I have seen his claims thus announced in a 
foreign Journal! But the manner in which that same man inter 
with, my subject, for the purpose of intercepting my experiments, may 
be left for detail to another occasion. 



224* ?ATHETISM. 

She was asked what colour the thing was; and answered, 
"red." 

A phial was handed, by one of the Committee, to the oper- 
ator. When he had tasted the liquid in it, the patient made 
up quite a wry face. She was questioned, and answered as 
follows .— 

Q. •« What is the matter, Mary ?" 

A. " It tastes sour." 

Q. "What is it?" 

A. "Vinegar." 

The phial contained vinegar. 

The operator irritated his hand with a knife. She threw 
her hand about, and manifested considerable uneasiness. 

One of the Committee took her bonnet, and putting it on his 
own head, stepped behind her. On being asked, she told 
who it was that stood behind her, as, also, what he had on 
his head, and to whom it belonged. 

An Almanac was held over her head., 

Q. " What is this, Mary ?" 

A. "An Almanac." 

Q. " What is its date ?" 

A. "1842." 

This was correct. The almanac was just from the press, 
prepared for the next year. 

Q. "What kind of Almanac is it?" 

A. "Phrenological." 

Q. " What is on the first page ?" 

A. "Picture of a man's head." 

She was shown a part of a newspaper, and read a part of 
its name. 

One of the Committee took a finger ring from Dr. L. and 
handed it to the operator. 

Q. " What is this, Mary ?" 

A. "A ring." 

Q. " To whom does it belong ?" 

A. "To— L." 

Dr. L. said it was not his, but Prof. M. had said to the op- 
erator, that it belonged to Dr. L, 



CLAIRVOYANCE. 225 

A cane was held over her head. 

Q. "What is this, Mary?' 7 

A. "A cane.' , 

Q. " To whom does it belong." 

A. " To Mr. V." 

Q. "What are the letters on the end of it?" 

A. "J. V." 

This was true. Another cane was presented to her. 

Q. " To whom does this belong, Mary ?" 

A. "R— ." 

The letter "R." was all that could be heard in this an- 
swer. The cane belonged to Mr. Reed. 

A number of watches were presented. 

Q. "What is this, Mary?" 

A. "A watch." 

Q. "What time is it by this watch, Mary ?" 

A. " Twenty minutes past eight." The watch had stopped 
at that hour. 

Q. " What time is it by this watch ?" 

A. " Half-past ten." 

This answer was correct. 

She was now seated at the Piano. 

The tune, " Spring is not Spring to me," was selected by 
one of the audience. After repeating " They tell me Spring 
is coming," at a signal given by one of the spectators, she 
was suddenly stopped. 

The Committee signified what they wished the operator to 
cause the patient to do by signs ; no noise was made, and as 
she was blind, of course she could not know what she was de- 
sired to do, except by sympathy. 

At a given sign to the operator the patient commenced 
playing " The Old Arm Chair." Another sign, and she stop- 
ped in the midst of a bar, as before. A sign was made again, 
and she commenced exactly where she left off in the first 
tune. Another of the spectators then selected, "Woodman, 
Spare that Tree." A sign was given, and she stopped. An- 
other sign, and she commenced exactly where she left off, 
"The Old Arm Chair." 



226 PATHETISM. 

The operator reversed the passes over those portions of the 
brain appropriated to tune. 

"MaryyX want you to play this tune for me." 

Mary. " I can't play it." 

" 1 want you to play this, Mary ; you know it is a great 
favorite of mine." 

M. "I would play it if I could; but I can't think of the 
air." 

" Can you repeat the words to me ?" 

M. " yes." 

"Well, repeat them." 

M. "My sister dear," &c. (repeating the verse.) 

And while she was repeating the verse, the operator excit- 
ed the organs of tune ; and while doing this she commenced 
playing, and sung, " My Sister Dear," &c. And while she 
was singing this, he reversed the passes over her head for the 
purpose of waking it up. She ceased playing, and as if 
awake, in her natural state, answered whatever questions 
were put to her, by one of the spectators. While she was 
conversing with her, the operator, (unknown to her) pathe- 
tised her head, and she immediately began where she left off 
in the last tune. 

I am aware that patients, in a state of somnipathy, may 
often be made to hear at a great distance ; but it is not clear, 
as to whether they hear by the ordinary sense of hearing, or 
by the same sense by which they see in this state. I am in- 
clined to the latter opinion. 

These are a few of the many experiments of the'kind which 
demonstrate the reality of a peculiar sympathy between the 
patient and operator, and which shew beyond all reasonable 
doubt the existence of that perceptive power, which, in certain 
states of the physical system, may be exercised so as to give 
accurate descriptions of things without the use of the external 
senses. 

The following details are furnished me by Dr. W. B. Fah- 
nestock, of Lancaster, Penn., and may be depended upon as a 
faithful report of facts, which resulted from his own expert 
ments :— 



CLYIRVOYANCE. 227 

Subject, Mrs. H , of most exemplary character, who 

had been laboring under a nervous affection of the eyes and 
lower extremities for nearly two years, but who has been en- 
tirely restored by pathetism alone. She was requested to tell 
what a certain gentleman had in his yard, at the distance of 
several miles. When asked whether she would gratify the 
gentleman by looking, she said she did not care; and after she 
had looked, she asked me what kind of an animal it was. I 
told her I did not know what was there, as the gentleman 
had been very careful not to tell me. " Well," says she, u it 
is a raccoon; he is fastened, and is now lying in a box near 
the oven, asleep." The gentleman frankly stated, that she 
was correct. He had placed it there, and came over in the 
evening to test her powers. Some time previous to this, she 
was requested by a sceptic to visit a gentleman's apiary at a 
distance, and to tell the number of hives, and the condition of 
the bees, which he represented to be in a very flourishing con- 
dition. After looking, she remarked that he had about twenty 
hives, but that the bees were all dead. This seemed strange 
to me, and I asked her whether she was sure that they were 
all dead. She said, " Yes, you will see they are all dead." 
The gentleman then stated that such was the truth, and that 
the fact had not been known to any but himself. On another 
occasion, she was requested by a neighbour to visit his house, 
and to state where his wife was, and what she was doing. 
After stating several things respecting her to his satisfaction, 
she asked me when the tree before Mr. B.'s door had blown 
down. I asked Mr. B. whether that was the fact, and instead 
of answering my question, he requested me to ask her whe- 
ther it was all blown down. She said, "No, about the half 
of it." Such was the fact. Half cf the tree, a very large 
willow, which stood before the door, had blown down the 
evening before, and next morning early the fact was stated to 
the owner, unasked, and independent of any communication 
between the two houses. His intended visit was unexpected 
to us, and the distance between the two houses is about four 
miles. 

Patients are always in sympathy with the operator, yet, as 
they frequently relapse into that peculiar state of forgetful- 
ness which they call sleep, it is necessary, when the operator 
is desirous of performing an experiment, first to draw their at- 
tention, and to obtain their full consent, before he can succeed. 
They have the power of placing themselves in communica- 
tion with any one they please, even at a distance, and can 
read or know their mind, if they be so disposed. They can 
do this at any "angle," without the aid of " that bowl of mo- 
lasses," or any other agent. 



228 PATHETISM. 

This peculiar power enables them to know the mind of any 1 
one in the room, and is the reason why all unfair and ungen- 
tlemanly skeptics are unable to receive such proofs of their 
abilities as would be satisfactory. I have no doubt, some will 
smile at this assertion ; and yet, I can assure those who are 
interested, that in good subjects this power is very evident, 
and that it will be impossible for any one to receive satisfac- 
tion, unless they prosecute their experiments with the right 
spirit. 

It now gives me pleasure to state, that I am able to give 
you the result of some of my experiments, which were prose- 
cuted to test the powers of the other senses, under like cir- 
cumstances, in the same state, and more particularly the 
sense of hearing, which, together with the other senses, 
strange and unnatural as it may seem, they are enabled to 
translate and use at a distance. 

When the sense of hearing is pathetised, the subject does 
not hear unless there is an express desire on his or her part 
to do so; and when that desire ceases, the sense relapses into 
its former forge tfuln ess, and is then deaf to every sound but 
the voice of the operator. They are always obliged to hear 
him, and if they are willing to listen he can direct them to do 
so, and they will hear others speak, &e. without any other 
communication. This they can do, independent of his will ; 
and when they desire to listen, they can hear the slightest 
whisper even at a distance, and I have as yet not been able 
to set any bounds to it, if, indeed, there be any. 

My experiments have been conducted with the utmost 
care ; and I am confident, that if similar experiments be re- 
peated by others, with proper care, the results will be as sa- 
tisfactory to them, as mine have been to me. 

Experiment 1st. Subject, a young lady. Three persons 
were requested to retire into a distant part of the yard, and to 
speak of something which they should bear in mind. When 
asked what they were speaking about, she said, " they are 
talking about the kitchen and the piazza;" and when request- 
ed to state the exact words they were speaking at that mo- 
ment, she replied, that " Mr. Z. just now said that it will do 
very well," alluding to the manner of the trimming of th6 
trees, &c. They were then requested to come in; and when 
told what she said, they declared that those were the subjects 
spoken about, and the exact words that had been uttered. 

Experiment 2d. Subject, a lady in the country. Was re- 
quested to state, what they were speaking about in the house 
of a neighbor about one hundred yards distant, and the doors 
being both closed. She said they were speaking about a Mr, 
M , who lived at a distance. Answer ascertained to be 



CLAIRVOYANCE. 2&> 

correct. This experiment was performed on the spur of the 
moment, without any previous arrangement, and therefore 
puts the possibility of collusion out of the question. 

Experiment 3d. Subject, a young lad-'. Was requested to 
state what two young ladies \ iking about in the next 

room, who had retired for that purpose. They were directed 
to whisper barely ioud enough for the one to hear the other. 
Her answer was correct. 

Experiment 4th. Subject, a lady. Was requested to listen 
to some music at a distance. Said she heard it, named the 
tunes that were played in succession, and the kind of instru- 
ment upon which they were performed, &c. This was also 
performed without any previous arrangement. Her state- 
ments were ascertained to be correct. 

Experiment 5th. Subject, a lady. Was requested to listen 
to what a young lady was singing, who had been sent out 
into the woods for that purpose by certain skepiies, with di- 
rections to sing merely loud enough to hear herself, and to 
note which piece she sang first, 6cc. Answer : " She is sing- 
ing, 'My soul is heaven bound, glory, hallelujah !'" and after 
a pause of perhaps half a minute she said, " and now she has 
commenced the Promised Land." Answer correct. She sang 
but two pieces, and those so low, that (to use the young la- 
dy's own expression,) it was impossible for any perso.. to 
have heard at the distance oi three yards. 

I have two subjects, both gentlemen, in whom the sense 
of seeing is not pathetised, at the same time that the sense of 
hearing is, and who are both able in that sate to translate 
themselves, or rather their senses, to a distance; and al- 
though they can see nothing, they are enabled to hear every- 
thing that is said, &c. They have frequently told what was 
spoken at the distance of several miles; and when taken to 
a cocoonery at the distance of four miles, they declared they 
could hear the worms feeding as distinctly as if their ears 
had been within an inch of them. 

Both of these gentlemen were at one time skeptics, and en- 
tered this state out of curiosity. One of them has lately en- 
tered into this state more perfectly, and upon the tenth trial 
was enabled to see, and has now become a most excellent 
clairvoyant. 

With these and several other subjects, I have performed 
many like experiments at even a much greater distance; and 
so far as I have been able to ascertain, they have always been 
correct. If, then, they can hear and repeat the exact words 
spoken, or the music pla . at a distance so far exceed- 

ing the powers of the same sense in a natural state, how can 
u 



230 



PATHETISM. 



we limit their abilities? I have also made many experiments 
to test the powers of the senses of touch, taste, feeling, smell 
&c. at a distance, with the most decided success; and I am 
now perfectly convinced, that they can translate all their fa- 
culties to a distance, and use them, as correctly and with as 
much judgment as in their natural state. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

CONCLUSION. 

If the reader has made a candid and impartial examination 
of the facts and arguments detailed in the preceding pages, I 
cannot doubt as to the conclusions to which he must already 
have arrived. And if he has accompanied his observations 
with experiments, for the purpose of testing the soundness of 
the theory I have advocated in this work, I am quite confi- 
dent that, though he should not agree with me in some minor 
points, yet we shall not differ in the more important princi- 
ples. As, for instance : — 

1. With regard to the reality of that agency which I have 
denominated patketism. No fact in physiology is more clearly 
demonstrated, than the existence of that susceptibility of the 
human system, on which impressions are made by mere men- 
tal or physical sympathy. To doubt this, with the evidences 
before him, which are always available to the candid inquirer 
after truth, cne must, indeed, doubt his own senses; and he 
might as well distrust his own competency to arrive at the 
truth upon any subject. 

2. As to the nature of this agency. I have folly shown, I 
think, that it is not, and cannot be, any kind of fluid elimina- 
ted from the operator into the subject, either magnetic, elec- 
trical, galvanic, or nervous. And since I became quite fami- 
liar with this agency, it has appeared to me a matter of no 
small astonishment, that the many intelligent and scientiiic 
minds who have hitherto investigated this subject, should nut 
have seen the reasons which demonstrate, as I think ihey do, 
so clearly, the fallacy of the old theory of a universal fluid. 
Indeed, the difficulties in the way of ll ipera- 
ble: they cl>:i never be reconciled to what we know to be 
matter of fact. 



232 PATHETISM. 

Nor is there any necessity for such a medium. If it be 
asked, how the cerebral system of one person can be impress- 
ed by the cerebral influence of another, without a connecting 
fluid, I might answer: — 

How does the brain become impressed, or how does the 
mind have perceptions of distant objects, such as the planets, 
or distant friends? Is the mind so constituted, that it cannot 
have perceptions and views of distant things without a con- 
necting medium, through which those views are conveyed 
from the objects to the brain? If so, how does it come to 
pass, that every mind has views of things which never did 
actually exist ? How easy for the mind to form to itself pic- 
tures of ideal existences, which cannot, in the nature of things, 
ever become real. But these impressions are not caused by 
any fluid, as a connecting medium between these objects and 
the brain, for this is impossible. These impressions are spon- 
taneous, and caused by the mind's own inherent action, or by 
external agencies by which its functions become excited to 
action. 

An operator sits down before his patient, and wills him, as 
it is said, to go to sleep. The sleep follows this effort, and he 
concludes, of course, that his will has caused the elimination 
of a fluid which has penetrated the nervous system of the pa- 
tient, and produced the desired result. But suppose the same 
results follow, when he wills that the subject should not fall 
into a state of sleep? What then? What becomes of the 
will and the fluid in this case ? And I have had scores of 
patients, who would go to sleep just as soon against my will, 
as with it. That is : if you give the subject an apprehension 
that sleep is the anticipated result, if he be susceptible it will 
follow the process adopted for its production, whether you 
will it or not. And with thousands of such facts as these be- 
fore us, how can we subscribe to the hitherto prevalent no- 
tions upon this subject ? I have no doubt that many ope- 
rators have been deceived, (as I know some of them have 
been most egregiously,) both in respect to the reality of the 
results, as well as the agency by which they were supposed 
to have been induced. It is quite an easy thing for some per- 



CONCLUSION. 233 

sons to feign this sleep, as well as the mental excitements in 
phrenopathy; and I have known instances where subjects, 
under the management of those considered experienced opera- 
tors, who feigned, to admirable perfection, all the phenomena 
peculiar to a state of somnipathy. And some such subjects 
have even been exhibited before jjublic audiences as the finest 
specimens of this singular state ! 

Admitting all that has been assumed in those cases, in 
which we are told by operators that they have put their 
subjects to sleep without their knowledge, when miles dis- 
tant from them, it by no means proves the existence of the 
assumed fluid. "We have seen that two minds, at a great dis- 
tance apart, do sometimes yield to the same influences or 
sympathetic laws, as in the case of Mr. Wilkin's dream. Nor 
is it unreasonable to suppose that this influence depends upon 
a peculiar relation previously established between two minds. 

If I were asked what the medium of this sympathy is, I 
might answer, that there is no more necessity for a medium 
for the transmission of this sympathy, than there is for the 
transmission of thought from one place to another. Sympa- 
thy, itself, is a medium, if we may so speak, which always 
exists wherever there is a relation established between the 
right persons or things. 

Nor is it. possible to show, how thoughts may be communi- 
cated from one mind to another, at a distance, without the 
use of the external senses, by such a pervading medium as is 
supposed to surround the earth, and even to fill universal 
space. With this medium, all the imponderable fluids, such 
as light, heat, and electricity, have more or less connection. 
Nor do we see how thought could be transmitted through this 
medium to a great distance, and be received into the nervous 
system of another, where there were so many all-pervading, 
disturbing causes. And especially, if this be a vibratory me- 
dium, does nothing but thought cause the vibrations ? If so, 
it is impossible to see how mere thought should he received 
from another at a distance, inasmuch as all thought must have 
more or less effect in prod-; • vibrations, and, conse- 

quently, the medium itself must be kept h\ unending confusion 



23^ PATHETISM. 

by the ever varying vibrations which are caused by every 
thinking being in every part of universal space. Imagine, if 
possible, the condition of this medium in a room full of peo- 
ple. What currents and counter-currents, vibrations and cross 
vibrations, must be kept in perpetual motion, in such a place. 
And how is the straggling thought to be vibrated through so 
many inconceivably subtile and ever changing vibrations in 
the surrounding medium, already filled and crowded with 
other thoughts and influences, which cause innumerable vi- 
brations in other and contrary directions ? 

Or, suppose we allow that it may be in the nature of this 
medium to admit and transmit mere thought, without any 
limits to their nature or numbers. Then it will follow, that 
we should be able to transmit our mere volitions whenever 
and wherever we pleased. It should be just as easy for me, 
while in the city of New- York, to put any person to sleep in 
London, as to do it in this city, where I can reach the subject 
by my voice ? Why not ? We should be able to put any one 
to sleep, not only as distant as the extent of this medium, but 
any one who is susceptible, though the patient had never 
seen or heard of the operator. This, however, cannot be 
done, as every operator knows. You cannot put a stranger to 
sleep, however susceptible he may be, whom you never saw, 
and who never has had any apprehension of your influence. 
And while this fact is enough to annihilate the fluid or " vi- 
bratory medium" theory, it presents no difficulty in the way 
of Pathetism ; for, according to this theory, a patient may be 
put to sleep as well a million of miles distant, as one, provi- 
ded he be in a suitable condition at the time, and have the ne- 
cessary apprehension of the anticipated or designed result, 
Where the relation has been sufficiently established between 
two persons, the subject may be put to sleep at any distance 
from the operator, provided the former have an apprehension 
of the influence to be exerted upon him. 

The vibratory, or fluid medium theory, has been argued 
from the perceptions which some subjects have been found to 
have of articles breathed upon or touched by the operator ; 
but I have, I think, in the preceding pages, satisfactorily ac« 



CONCLUSION. 235 

counted for this perception, by demonstrating the existence of 
a peculiar sense, which is developed in cases o( catalepsy and 
natural or induced somnambulism. What is it that enables 
the dog to trace the footsteps of his master, or the course of 
the fox, for miles together? The feet of the former may be 
covered, so that no imaginable effluvia could be left from the 
hasty steps upon the surface of the ground passed over; and 
yet, to the dog is given a sense by which the steps and the di- 
rection taken by his master is traced for miles and days toge- 
ther, with unerring accuracy. Is this done by a vibrating 
medium ? I grant, that the contact of any article with the 
operator, or the effects of his breath upon it, may so change 
its quality as to render it perceptible by the above sense ; but 
this does not involve any necessity for a fluid, nor for any vi- 
brating medium, as has been supposed. It rather relieves the 
subject from any such necessity; as this change in the quality 
of substances is brought about by that first lav/ of pathetism 
already described, which requires that a relation should be 
established between two different things, in order to produce 
any change in the quality of either. 

But this " vibratory medium 5 ' affords no solution for the 
peculiar sympathy which is found to exist, in most cases, be- 
tween the operator and his patient. Why should not any pa- 
tient £e as much affected through this universal medium, by 
the will of one person as of another, provided the operators 
hare an equal force of will? 

In all the reported experiments with magnets, electricity, 
the galvanic battery, the eye, and the will, we can deduce lit- 
tle or nothing in favor of this fluid theory, because we cannot 
know how much the menial apprehensions of the patients were 
impressed. These are of no avail in proving any hypothesis, 
until you have succeeded by these processes on a new patient, 
one who had no mental apprehension or anticipation of the 
process, or its autiiipated results. So of operating by mine- 
rals and metallic substances, or through any other medium. 
Much depends upon the apprehensions of the patient, and 
much, also, upon the apprehensions of the op^r?.(or. Hence, 
some always complain of fatigue after operating, and great 



236 PATHETISM. 

exhaustion : the reason is, they conceive great mental effort 
necessary to induce any results. I never feel exhausted, 
though I have put fifteen or tv/enty persons to sleep in a day, 
and could just as well put fifty or five hundred to sleep in the 
same time, without feeling any exhaustion at all.* If the 
operator fancies himself weak, or that the state of the atmos- 
phere is unfavorable, and especially if he gives his subject any 
idea of these supposed disturbing causes, of course he will not 
succeed so well. It is not denied, but that an operator may 
exhaust his own mental and physical energies, by efforts of 
this kind ; but there is no more necessity for this, than there 
is of becoming exhausted by giving the attention to any other 
subject or effort. I have often been conscious of relief, after 
writing all day, by operating in the evening for an hour or so; 
and I can easily see how this comes to pass. The mind al- 
ways suffers when one or more of the organs are kept long 
directed to one object; and relief ensues, when the action of 
these organs is suspended, by the excitement of other por- 
tions of the brain. 

Having in the preceding pages spoken so freely on the na- 
ture of this agency, and assigned what I considered to be some 
conclusive reasons, to show that it is not a nervous fluid, or 
current, transmitted from the operator into the system of the 
subject, it is not necessary for me to enter more at large upon 
the examination of this question. The more I see and hear 
on the subject, the more I am confirmed in the conclusions al- 
ready expressed upon it. One additional fact, emitted in the 
proper place, may be stated here. It is this: I find it equally 
easy to cause patients to excite their ovm mental organs. I 
have only to cause the subject to place his finger upon his own 
head, and just as certain as he apprehends what the result 
should be, he will manifest the appropriate functicn ! Is 
there a " neuraura" eliminated in these cases ?"t 

Finally, as to the intrinsic importance of this subject. It 
must be understood, of course, to be fully appreciated. It is 

* I have put a number into a state of somnipathy in my office, while 
sitting at my desk composing the pages of this work. 
| See Appendix. 



CONCLUSION. 237 

in this fieM of inquiry, that we are to become familiar with 
the laws of mind. From this source is to emanate that light, 
which is indispensable to the right understanding of the men- 
tal functions, and the nature of those agencies which control 
or modify them. 

Hence its application to the purposes of education and the 
management of children. Is it not plain, that the mental dis- 
positions and susceptibilities of children should be perfectly 
understood, before they can be managed and controlled to the 
best possible advantage ? And what greater injury could be 
inflicted on a child, than that impression made upon his sus- 
ceptibility by the undue excitement, perhaps, cf an organ, 
when at the same time its opposite function should be aroused 
and brought into action ? The whole difficulty lies here : if 
the parent or teacher be ignorant of the avenues to those men- 
tal functions on which Good Nature, Kindness, Zeal, Benevo- 
lence, and Ambition depend, he will be as likely to excite An- 
ger, Aversion, Deception, and those other passions which ren- 
der children so exceedingly difficult to manage, as the former. 
And is it no injury to the child, when you excite his anger in- 
stead of his love, and his revenge instead of kindness? In 
this way the disposition may become radically changed in a 
very short time, and impressions made upon the mind that 
will last as long as the power of thought endures. 

This subject gives a most clear and satisfactory account of 
the different relations of life, and the manner in which they 
should be fulfilled. Suppose we take a perfectly balanced 
head, for an example. Here is a congeries of various mental 
functions, for every relation which it is possible for man to 
sustain, — one giving a sense of obligation to the Deity, and 
others for the various duties of life, disposing him to the avoid- 
ance of all evil, and the pursuit of the best ends, by the most 
appropriate means. 

These organs are balanced by opposing functions, so that 
the best minds are susceptible to temptations to swerve from 
duty. If this were not the case, h is q< t i asy to see how one 
could be tempt-d at all, or what would ci nstitute the virtue 
of obedience. 



238 PATHETISM. 

For instance, if a man commits an act of injustice, it surely 
is not the organ of Conscientiousness which perpetrates that 
wrong, hut its opposite, which can be excited to action only 
when the former is suppressed. And hence we see what con- 
stitutes the perfection of any one character. It is the indul- 
gence or exercise of all the organs, in harmony with each 
other. Acquisitiveness is not so excited as to control Consci- 
entiousness; Revenge is not suffered to control the Will, nor 
to become excited above the activity of Compassion. The 
man has Benevolence, but this organ is not to be excited to the 
injury cf others, and hence, with all the other organs it is ba- 
lanced with an opposing lunction, which regulates its activity, 
when necessary, m perfect harmony with the rest. All the 
laws of God agree; hence, when the mind is properly balan- 
ced, and all the mental and physical functions harmoniously 
exercised, His laws are obeyed in the use of the one, two, 
three, or five " talents," according to the cerebral endowments 
of the individual. Whatever is done, will be in accordance 
with the Divine Lav/, and the best interests of all. 

We see, also, what should be done when the cerebral func- 
tions are deficient in any respect. The person should be made 
acquainted with these laws; and, knowing his own mental 
constitution, he may guard against those agencies, which are 
calculated to excite his susceptibilities to wrong doing. If he 
knows he has large Anger, large Resistance, large Destruc- 
tiveness, and little Suavity, and small Eenevolence, he may 
and should govern himself in view of these facts. He is just 
as really responsible (though not to the same degree,) as if 
his functions were perfectly balanced, and in the Scripture 
language he were possessed cf the "five talents." 

The principles here advocated make parents responsible for 
the mental characters of their children. We have seen how 
wonderfully the susceptibility is developed in females during 
the time of gestation, and to what cm extent the foetus shares 
in this quality of the living body, — so much so, that it is in 
the power of the mother, by a knowledge of these laws, and 
the government of herself according to them, to transmit to 
her offspring mental qualities far superior to her own. If, 



CONCLUSION. 239 

during that interesting and important period, her mind be oc- 
cupied by the contemplation of the good, the kind, and bene- 
volent, — if all the b'iser functions and passions be suppressed, 
and no unhallowed emotions be permitted to find a lodgment 
in her disposition, the laws of God must be reversed, or the 
good effects will appear in the cerebral developments of the 
children born of such mothers. No intelligent physiologist 
can conscientiously doubt this doctrine. It is recognised in 
the Inspired Scriptures, as I have before shown; and it might 
be seen demonstrated in the case of every child, if we could 
know the history of its mother's mental exercises during the 
time above named. 

I cannot doubt but that the characters of many children are 
affected very much, by the want of what I may denominate a 
real conjugal union between the parents; and wero the sub- 
jects treated of in this work sufficiently understood, I firmly 
believe, far less of those marriages would take place, where 
conjugal union between the parties was wanting. If is now 
generally admitted, that a large proportion cf the marriages 
which take place, prove unhappy. The parties are united for 
life, before they find out that they are not the persons they 
thought they were: in other words, that they have little or 
no conjugal love for each other. Hence, each is displeased, 
mere or less, with the habits, the menial endowments, the 
tastes and views of the other, which constitutes a source of 
unending difference, and perhaps strife and discontent. Now 
all this knowledge the parties should have of each other be- 
fore the union is formed ; and it might and would be obtained, 
were the necessary means used for this purpose. There are 
some persons so constituted, that their minds can never be 
made perfectly to harmonise. They may be too much alike 
in some respects, that is, if each have large Aversion, Sel£ 
Esteem, Will, Self-Confidence, and Firmness, iho conjugal 
love must be very strong indeed, to secure them against fre- 
quent collisions. Eut when persons find themselves married 
with this unhappy balance of views and tas 
be miserable, necessarily, en this account. B; laint- 

ance with the nature and laws of mind, and a fixed resolution 



240 PATHETISM. 

to fulfil all the duties of every relation, the action of these 
predominant organs may be more or less modified, and the 
mind rendered comparatively happy, in its efforts to make the 
best of its susceptibilities. It is a matter of reason, for every 
unperverted mind to desire the greatest amount of good; and 
when once convinced that the greatest good of the whole is 
the greatest possible good to each individual, the mind should 
not hesitate in coming to the decision, to make use of all the 
available helps to secure this end. 

Such are some of the practical purposes to which these 
principles are to be applied. They are concerned in all the 
passions, emotions, feelings, perceptions, and volitions of hu- 
man existence. They show how one mind affects another, 
for good or for evil; and not, merely, how the body may b- 
relieved from pain, but how the mind may be governed an« 
developed, so as to secure the greatest amount of holines 
and happiness which it is possible for each one to enjoy. 



THE END. 



APPENDIX 



Since the sheets of this work were in press, I have seen 
what purports to be a " Diagram of the Phrenological portion 
of Neurology, by Dr. James R. Buchanan." It is a little larger 
than life, and is sold for one dollar each. It has his assumed 
new organs marked upon the head, face, and neck, besides a 
number of letters and hieroglyphics, which are not explained, 
but which, to the uninitiated, will of course give quite an im- 
pressive sense of the mysteriousness of the science. 

All the locations of the organs on this chart, differ in almost 
every respect from the busts marked by Dr. Gall and his suc- 
cessors; and as Dr. B. has drawn up this chart from the re- 
sults of experiments made by the agency treated of in the 
preceding pages, it may not be out of place for me to oifer a 
few remarks here concerning his assumptions, though I am 
by no means disposed to spend much time upon it, or to notice 
any considerable proportion of the many and insurmount- 
able difficulties which lie in the way of Dr. B.'s theory. 

The Doctor, himself, made a remark about his system, in 
one of his public lectures in this city, last winter, which at 
the time surprised many who heard it; but it will afford no 
little assistance in accounting for the arrangement of the dif- 
ferent organs in this diagram. The remark was this : that he 
invented his theory first, and then commenced his experiments 
in its confirmation ! That is, he first decided how ihe phre- 
nological organs shov. Id be located, and afterwards commenced 
his experiments to prove his theory correct ! To those who 
know any thing of the sympathies of the human system, or 
its susceptibilities, I certainly need not undertake, here, to 
say, how much dependence they should place on the assump- 
v 



24*2 APPENDIX. 

tions of one who goes to work in this manner to find out the 
functions and localities of the cerebral organs. 

Indeed, I cannot withhold an expression of my astonishment, 
that a man of Dr. Buchanan's apparent intelligence should 
have been so completely bewildered in the iabarynths of his 
ow r n fancy, as he has evidently been, in building up his theory 
of " Neurology." This was to have heen expected, to be sure, 
from the manner in which he boasts of having begun his in- 
vestigations ; but the marvel is, as to how he could be as fa- 
miliar as he assumes to have been, with the functions of the 
nervous system, for some two years or more, and yet never 
have been able to discover, during all this time, the real na- 
ture of that agency by which his experiments upon the cere- 
bral system were performed. He tells us, that he has experi- 
mented upon some sixty different subjects, who were highly 
susceptible to what he calls his neuraura, and from these ex- 
periments he has drawn up this chart. And as I do not at all 
agree with the Doctor in his conclusions, either as to his lo- 
cations of the different organs, or the nature of that agency by 
which he operates, it is due to truth that I should state, can- 
didly, the reasons for dissent. Of course, I cannot go fully 
into this subject here, nor is it necessary, as I have already 
done this in the preceding pages of this work. 

The following is one of Dr. Buchanan's fundamental princi- 
ples — it is the foundation of what he calls " Neurology" : — 

That a nervous fluid is eliminated from the operator into 
ike subject, and this fluid, when the finger of the former is 
applied to the cranium of the latter, excites the mental organ 
located in the place touched by the operator. 

Thus, if the operator place his finger en what Dr. B. calls 
the organ of "Ignorance," the subject becomes ignorant; if 
on the organ of "Stupidity," he becomes stupid; if on the 
organ of lt Awkwardness- " he becomes awkward; if upon the 
organ of " Disease," he becomes sick ; if upon the organ of 
"Idiotcy," he becomes idiotic; if upon the organ of "Intox- 
ication," he becomes drunk, not with alcohol, to be sure, but 
with the neuraura eliminated into him from the hands of the 
operator. 



APPENDIX. 243 

f it will ^6 admitted, on ail hands, as I haveairead\ 
cd, that the immediate agency which excites the 
any case, must be the same, by whatever cause that a r , 
is brought to bear upon the mental functions. For instance, 
you titillate the sole of the foot, or under the arms, and you 
excite the organs of mirth. But, is there a fluid t 
in this case, from the hand of the operator ? Is there a fluid 
in this case eliminated from the finger of the operator, into 
the foot of the subject, and from thence up into the organs of 
mirth ? What conveys that fluid to those organs instead of 
any other part of the system ? 

You tread upon the patient's toe, and it excites his 01 
of Comhativeness. But is there a fluid communicated from 
the foot of the operator, into the toe of the subject, and thence 
up the limb into his organ of Comhativeness ? 

Again, in the base of the brain Dr. B. locates an organ of 
Calorification, and the fluid reaches the organ, he tells us, 
when the hand of the operator is applied to the chin of the 
patient. But what hinders the fluid, in this case, from being 
conveyed to other portions of the brain? The truth is, how- 
ever, that every susceptible person, the world ever, if he is 
left in total ignorance on the subject, will be just as likely to 
have any other sensation M of the chin, as that 

of heat : and if you tell the patient be J, that tfc 

sign is to give a sensation of cold, in a majority of cases, that 
sensation will be produced. If the subject have no idea of 
the design, or anticipated results, he will be as likely to have 
one sensation as another. This I know and have demonstra- 
ted, not by experiments upon " sixty or seventy impressible 
subjects, but upon hundreds. Indeed, I have demonstrated 
this fret, by experiments L «ts to 

whom Dr. B. refers; and I am weli p . that he could 

cU but from whom I could bring out results, 
directly opposed to his own I to show how 

cgregiously the Dr. may have been dec< hisconclus 

it may be proper here to state a f< 

1. It is well known, that while in this city and in Boston, 
Dr. B. experimented mostly, not upon new but upon 



244 APPENDIX. 

those who had been frequently pathetised, and experimented 
upon before, with very different results. Two lengthy re- 
ports were drawn up, and published in the Evening Post of 
this city, of his experiments here — the most of which were 
performed on two well-known subjects — from both of whom 
altogether different results were brought out, by different op- 
erators, long before Dr. B. arrived in this city. And that he 
was deceived in one of them, is a matter well known here. 
Of this fact the gentleman was informed, after he drew up 
the account for the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, and 
which was published, also, in the Evening Post, in January 
last. 

2. Dr. B. was understood to affirm, that Mr. I. whom he 
brought here from Cincinnati, was one of the best, and 
the very best subject he ever had. And if I am correctly in- 
formed, Mr. I was Dr. B.'s oracle. He was often heard to 
say, that Mr. L's " impressibility" was so great, that he could 
give a perfect diagnosis, by merely touching the subject to 
be examined ; and he carried this to a delineation of the men- 
tal powers, the passions, emotions, and thoughts of the mind, 
even to telling husbands whether their affections for their 
wives had changed within one or two years. 

The following is a specimen. It is from the pen of Dr. B. 
himself, and may be found in the first number of the Journal 
of the Cincinnati Phreno-Magnetic Society. He is giving an 
account of the manner in which Mr. I. and Mr. C. (bis " stu- 
dents,") examine heads, and adds, — ■ 

"We hear them say — You are not so much attached to 
your wife as you were once ; your conjugal feelings have 
been much excited ; you have been to see your wife lately, 
and are very much attached to her," &c. 

Now, we put it to the reader to draw his own inference, 
when we inform him, that the character of one of the sub- 
jects on whom Dr. B. operated for some weeks, in this city, 
(and once before a committee appointed by a public meeting) 
and who was frequently examined by Mr. I., and whose con- 
dition was quite peculiar all the while, was never found out 



APPENDIX. 245 

by him, nor do we suppose it was even suspected — for certain 
Ave are, if it had been, no report of any experiments perform- 
ed on such a subject would ever have been made public. 
And, what is worthy of notice, Mr. I. and this subject were 
often understood to affirm that the sympathy between them 
was so great, that if one were sick at a distance, it rendered 
the other sick also ! And yet, the neuraura did not enable 
Dr. B. or his oracle to discover, that they were both humbug- 
ged and deceived by that subject, as it is well known they 
most assuredly were. To show still further, that Dr. B. was 
really deceived in his assumptions about Mr. L's power, I 
will state one other fact. 

Dr. B. long before he reached this city, from some causes, 
which it may not be necessary to explain here, conceived a 
very strong prejudice against a gentleman, whom we will 
here call Mr. S.* As might be expected he imbued Mr. I. 
his highly impressible subject, with the same feeling, and Mr. 
I. from the circumstances of his situation, of course, would be 
very apt to manifest his sympathy with his teacher. 

Hence when in Albany, Mr. I. happened to see a bust, 
which he was told came from Mr. S., and (will the reader 
believe it,) it actually threw him into convulsions ; [Dr. B. 
was heard to say repeatedly, that Mr. S.'s " neuraura" was 
decidedly pernicious, [!] and how could poor Mr. I. who was 
so " highly impressible," help falling into fits whenever he 
came near any thing, or person touched by Mr. S. ?] 

The reader has seen another case, stated in the note on 
page 111, where Dr. B. and his oracle were most eg:\ 
deceived in the same way, while in this city. The facts there 
stated, I had from persons present when they occurred; and 
they put the matter beyond all doubt as to whether Dr. B. 
was not deceived in his assumptions, both as to the " imp! < 
sibility" of his subjects, and also as to the real nature of that 
agency by which they were affected. And yet, it is from the 
results brought out from such a subject, that Dr. B. has founded 
his science of "Neurology," and scattered to the four win 

* For proof, see Journal of the Phreno-Magnetic 
page 13. 



246 APPENDIX. 

the protracted labors of Gall and Spurzheim.* There are not 
more than five or six of Gall's locations, which are allowed as 
correct in this chart. Where Gall places Destructiveness, 
Buchanan puts Conservaiiveness ; where Gall locates Love 
of Children, Buchanan places Tyranny ; and where Union 
for Life should be, Buchanan places Cruelty. 

I do not see how it can be possible, that Dr. B. has experi- 
mented on seventy good subjects, as lie says, and yet has re- 
mained, till now, ignorant of the fact, that no two of them 
could be affected precisely alike in all respects. I venture to 
say, there is not an operator to be found, of any experience, 
who will not agree in this statement. True, the results may 
agree in part ; as for instance, you can excite the same func- 
tions in two or more subjects, but you cannot always do it 
from precisely the same locations. But, if these excitements 
are produced by a fluid they should agree, and not only so, 
but we should be able to excite all the different organs in ev- 
ery subject in which we can excite one by this agency. But 
this is not the case, as I know. These excitements depend, 
in a great degree, on the mental apprehensions of the subject ; 
and hence the answers, in most of the cases experimented on 
in this city by Dr. B. were suggested by the manner in which 
the questions were put, so that the subject apprehended the 
anticipated results. Indeed what could be more evident, than 
this fact, knowing as I do, that patients may be taught to ex- 
cite their own organs, by touching them, just as well as an- 
other could do it for them; and this fact, alone, is enough 
to annihilate, forever, the laboured theory of " Neurology." 

For these and other reasons I have but very little confidence 
in Dr. Buchanan's chart. I am satisfied beyond all doubt, 
that his notions about the elimination of a fluid from the oper- 
ator into the subject are totally unfounded. The phenome- 

* The following is a specimen of the estimate which one of the me- 
dical profession of this city, (but we believe he was the only one who 
received Dr. B.'s theory,) put upon these monstrous assumptions. Dr. 
S. Forry, speaking of Dr. Buchanan's discoveries, says : " Before this 
discovery, en the assumptions of its truth, those of Gall, Spurzheim, 
Majendie, and Sir Charles Bell, dwindle into comparative insignifi- 
un.ee." Surely the age of Tractors is not past! 



APPENDIX. 247 

na induced by his experiments, and those also under the name 
of Mesmerism, are produced by the laws of sympathy or ner- 
vous induction. I have a thousand times produced these phe- 
nomena, without contact with the subject, and without wil- 
ling them as it has been called, and consequently without any 
fluid, magnetic or nervous. 



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